Faith and Magic
by masqueradingactor
Summary: Alex Kent is the brother of Clark Kent and he is commissioned to go to Hogwarts for some reason beyond his understanding.   Year 1 is complete. Year 2 has begun.  Fandoms include: Smallville, Harry Potter, To Save a Life, Drake and Josh, Spiderman, etc.
1. Chapter 1: The Meteor Shower

Chapter 1

The Meteor Shower

"Chores, Jonathan. Work keeps a man honest."

The words of his father, Hiram Kent, ran through Jonathan Kent's mind as he stood hammering at a fence. The posts were situated but the connecting posts were not all put up. He was going post by post, hammering the connectors on.

Despite his mandate to do work on this farm, sometimes, he wished he could go inside and take a break. He and his wife, Martha, didn't have enough money to hire other people to help on the farm. Occasionally, they were able to pay their neighbor, Ben Hubbard, to help them a little. However, most of the time, Jonathan was left to do the work by himself.

While Jonathan did the outside work, Martha did the work inside the house. In the twentieth century, Jonathan and Martha Kent were one of the only traditional families left. They were your average, middle class, conservative, evangelical, farm family. The two of them were also happy about this. They saw what money did to a person and felt it was better that they just didn't have too much.

The only thing they were unhappy about, though, was that Martha was unable to have children. The doctors had said that she would never have a child. She was not physically able. A few months ago, Jonathan and Martha had sat down and prayed, asking God that if there was any way possible, to give them a child and to use him or her in a mighty way.

Jonathan looked at his watch to see that it was 11:45.

"I think it's about time for a lunch break," Jonathan said to himself.

Jonathan took the back end of the hammer and stuck it into the fence and went into the house. When he got inside, Martha was already cooking lunch.

"Smells delicious, sweetheart," Jonathan complimented.

"Thank you. It should be done in a couple of minutes," Martha replied.

"Okay, I'll be right back," Jonathan said.

Jonathan went into the bathroom to wash his sweaty face. After doing so, he walked back into the kitchen to see Martha hunched over the counter holding her head.

"What's wrong?" Jonathan asked.

"I'm very dizzy," Martha replied. "Everything is spinning."

Jonathan walked over and turned the oven off. He then pulled out a cooking mitten and pulled the food from the oven. He set it on the counter and turned back to Martha.

"Sit down," Jonathan said.

Martha began to walk towards the table but staggered as if she was drunk. Jonathan turned to look at the food.

"Did you cook this stuff with bourbon?" Jonathan asked confused.

"I don't…I have never been this dizzy," Martha said grabbing onto the counter.

"Come on. You are going to the doctor," Jonathan said.

Jonathan now sat in the room he and Martha had been taken after they had examined her. The doctor opened the door and walked in.

"What's the verdict, Doc?" Jonathan asked.

"You are completely healthy, Martha. There is no health problems related to this," the doctor said. "However, there is something you should know. You are four months pregnant."

"Pregnant?" Jonathan said puzzled.

"Yes," the doctor replied.

"There must be a mistake. We have been told that she could never have a baby," Jonathan replied.

"If there was a situation like that, it's not there anymore. She is perfectly capable of giving birth," the doctor replied.

Jonathan drove the truck as he and Martha headed home. They were extremely happy. Their prayers had finally been answered. Martha had gotten pregnant. Now, the question was whether the child would be used in a mighty way, like they had requested.

As Jonathan drove, Martha began to speak.

"Jonathan, if it's a boy, I want to name him after my father," Martha replied.

"Sounds good. Clark Kent," Jonathan replied.

"And if it's a girl…" Martha started.

Suddenly, there was an explosion behind the truck. Both of them looked out the back window to see what was happening.

"What's happening, Jonathan?" Martha said frantically.

A meteor had crashed into the cornfield behind them. Another crash came from in front of the truck. Jonathan turned and looked to see a cloud of smoke. He slammed on the breaks as the truck flew into the smoke. He lost control and fell unconscious.

Jonathan awoke upside down in the truck. Martha was next to him and both of them were still buckled in with their arms hanging toward the roof. They looked around to see that the truck was upside down in a crater.

Then, they looked out the window and saw a naked toddler looking into their vehicle.

After getting out of the vehicle, Jonathan and Martha began looking around the crater to try and figure out where the toddler had come from.

"Kids just don't fall out of the sky, Martha," Jonathan said.

"Then where did he come from?" Martha asked.

"I don't know. But he must have parents," Jonathan said.

Jonathan and Martha stumbled upon something in the crater that they never would have expected. A spaceship looking craft was crashed in the dirt.

"Well if he does, they definitely aren't from Kansas," Martha said.

Jonathan looked at Martha who was holding the boy. She seemed to be rather attached to the boy.

"Sweetheart, we can't keep him. What will we tell people, we found him out in a field?" Jonathan asked.

"We didn't find him, he found us," Martha said.

Jonathan looked back at the spaceship and then up into the sky. It looked as though they were about to adopt a son and give birth to a child also.

* * *

><p>Albus Dumbledore walked down Privet Drive. The day had been filled with constant news of the defeat of the evil wizard, Lord Voldemort. The wizarding world had been at war with Voldemort and his followers for years. However, this night, Voldemort had travelled to the home of James and Lily Potter and murdered them and then went attempted to kill their son, Harry. However, Voldemort's killing curse had repelled off of Harry and killed Voldemort.<p>

Dumbledore held up his deluminator. Instantly, all of the street lights on Privet Drive came into the deluminator. Privet Drive was now so dark you could barely see your hand in front of your face. Dumbledore looked down and saw a cat sitting on the sidewalk.

"So good to see you, Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore smiled.

The cat looked up at Dumbledore and began to walk. As it walked, it transformed into a woman. Dumbledore saw Minerva McGonagall now standing in front of him.

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore," McGonagall said. "So, I take it the news is true with you being at Privet Drive?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Dumbledore said. "Voldemort is dead as are James and Lily."

"And what of Harry?" McGonagall asked.

"He is being brought to us," Dumbledore said.

At that moment, two men apparated on the street. Dumbledore recognized them as Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Sirius was carrying a baby in a blanket.

"Good evening, Albus, Minerva," Lupin said.

"Good evening? What was the situation? Did you face any problems?" Dumbledore asked.

"The house was nearly destroyed," Sirius said. "We got Harry out before the aurors got there to clean the place up."

Dumbledore took Harry Potter from Sirius's arms. McGonagall took a look at the scar upon Harry's forehead that was shaped like a lightning bolt.

"Is that where….?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes. He will have that scar forever," Dumbledore said.

Dumbledore walked toward the door of Number 4, Privet Drive. He set Harry down at the doorstep and set a letter beside him. He then turned to Minerva, Remus, and Sirius.

"That is all we need to do for now," Dumbledore said. "It is time for us to leave."

Remus and Sirius nodded and began to walk towards the street. Minerva approached Dumbledore.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Minerva asked. "He will be famous. What will it be like for him growing up not knowing who he is. Not knowing that he is the boy who lived."

"Growing up in that kind of environment could go to anyone's head. He is far better off growing up never knowing about his fame, until he is ready," Dumbledore said.

Dumbledore looked at the lightning scarred baby. "Good luck, Harry Potter."


	2. Chapter 2: The Lightning Strike

Chapter 2

The Lightning Strike

Alex Kent sat in the crowd of Smallville High School's graduation. His parents, Jonathan and Martha, were to his left. Lois Lane was in between Alex and his parents. There was such a huge crowd for this audience, that Lois was practically pushed on top of Alex, which as beautiful as she was, he honestly didn't mind.

Alex was four years younger than his brother, Clark, who was graduating high school today. Alex would be entering high school in the fall. He was fourteen years old and had just graduated middle school a few days before.

The Kent family had possibly the biggest secret of all time. Jonathan and Martha had discovered Clark in a field during a meteor shower fifteen years ago. About five months later, Alex had been born. In the previous four years, the Kent's had learned of Clark's origins.

Clark was an alien from the planet Krypton. Clark's biological father, Jor-El, was a scientist and had figured out that Krypton was going to explode. Jor-El built a spaceship for Kal-El, Clark's Kryptonian name, and had blasted him away from Krypton just as the planet exploded from collision with its sun.

It had taken three years for Clark's ship to reach earth. Jor-El had chosen the Kent's to raise Clark after Jor-El had visited earth earlier in his life and been given hospitality by Hiram Kent. Clark's physical composition had been born under a red sun. When he had entered the Milky Way galaxy and come under the yellow sun, his physical attributes had been advanced. Clark had advanced strength, speed, vision, hearing, and many more special abilities. The meteors that had crashed in the meteor shower had been fragments of Krypton. They were the only substance that could hurt Clark.

Throughout his life, Clark had been saving people in Smallville, Kansas, but keeping his abilities secret. The only person the Kent's had trusted with Clark's secret was his best friend, Pete Ross. They actually hadn't done so willingly. Pete had found Clark's ship, so they were forced to tell him. Pete didn't live in Smallville anymore. The FBI had been investigating Clark and had attacked Pete for information. At the time, Pete's parents had gotten a divorce and so Pete moved with his mother for his protection.

Clark was only a few people from walking up onto the stage to receive his diploma. Alex watched the principal on the stage calling out the student's names.

"Derrick Hooper. Ken Horton. Caroline Jacobs."

Alex then saw Clark at the edge of the stage.

"Oh, there's Clark," Martha said.

"Clark Kent," the principal called.

Jonathan, Martha, and Lois cheered and stood as Jonathan took a picture with his camera. Alex stood beside them.

_You can always tell where the family is_ Alex thought.

Clark walked up onto the stage and took the diploma. He smiled at Jonathan's camera and held up his diploma. He then began to walk off the stage. The principal called a couple more names as Clark began to look at his diploma. He walked down but then turned as the principal called another name.

"Lana Lang," he called.

Alex watched Clark look around for something.

_What is he doing?___Alex thought.

"Lana Lang," the principal called again.

Lana never walked onto the stage.

Clark had been in love with Lana since he was five. The two had finally started a relationship in the summer between their sophomore and junior year. The relationship had lasted in the summer, however, Clark realized that it wouldn't work. He still loved her and they were good friends, but he didn't feel that he could date her and have to keep secrets from her.

Alex examined the entire gym but didn't see Lana anywhere. Clark was still looking around for Lana. Alex then saw soldiers from the army come running into the gym. One had a megaphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, by order of the federal government, everyone in Smallville is to evacuate the area to at least a fifty mile radius. In approximately three hours, a meteor shower is predicted to hit Smallville," the soldier said.

Everyone stood and began to panic. The people of Smallville knew the power of a meteor shower. Alex looked around. Clark was walking around the gym looking for Lana. Alex saw Chloe Sullivan, Lois's cousin and a good friend of the Kent family, run up beside Clark.

"Not again," Martha said about the meteor shower.

Jonathan, Martha, Lois, and Alex filed out of the bleachers and approached the gym floor. Alex saw Lois take off towards Clark and Chloe. The three were soon out the door. Alex stayed with Jonathan and Martha as the three headed for the truck. Alex was sure Clark would find his way to the farm, as he could run at the speed of light.

Two hours later, Jonathan and Alex had the truck loaded up at the farm with all of the necessities packed up. Clark had still not turned up at the farm. Alex was helping Jonathan secure the truck. As they hooked the cable, Alex heard a wooshing sound. He turned to see Clark standing there, not in his graduation attire, but he had changed.

"Clark," Jonathan said getting off of the truck. "Would you help me secure the truck?"

Alex stayed standing on the truck.

"You are going to have to go without me," Clark said.

"Do I have to remind you, Clark, that the last time we had a meteor shower, it was full of Kryptonite?" Jonathan asked.

"If the same thing happens again, it could kill you. You have to come with us," Martha added.

"I spoke to Jor-El," Clark said.

Despite that Jor-El had died on Krypton, he had created an artificial intelligence of himself and left it behind for Clark. There was a cave in Smallville called the Kawatche Caves where Jor-El had left a console that had the ability to communicate with this artificial intelligence.

"He told me I have to find the other two stones right now, and unite them with the one in the cave," Clark said.

For all of Clark's senior year, he had been in search of three Kryptonian stones that had been left behind hundreds of years before by Kryptonians that had come to earth. Jor-El had given Clark the mission of finding all of them and uniting them. While he was searching for them, there were probably eight people also looking for them at the same time. Clark had found one and took it to the cave. The console that Clark could communicate with Jor-El on was in a secret room in the cave that had a place for the stones to be united.

"No. You are my son! You're not going to go on some kind of suicide mission," Martha pleaded.

"Clark, you might be stronger than steal, but you're not invincible," Jonathan said.

"I know, Dad. But I am the only one that can do this," Clark replied.

Jonathan looked back in thought. He turned back to Clark. "Alright. But I want you to listen to me right now. All the years, that your mother and I spent raising you from a wide-eye toddler running around on this farm to the man who is standing in front of me right now, was for this moment. You do this son, you make us proud."

Jonathan hugged Clark. Alex leaped down from the truck and stood there next to Martha. When Jonathan and Clark broke the hug, Clark hugged Martha. Martha had to be about a foot and a half shorter than Clark, so he had to bend down when hugging her. Clark broke the hug with Martha and moved to Alex. He hugged Alex.

"I have faith that you can do this," Alex said. "I love you, brother."

Clark broke the hug and turned toward the barn. He began walking towards it. Alex stood with Jonathan and Martha.

"Those meteors can kill him, Jonathan," Martha pointed out.

"I know that, sweetheart. But if we have faith in our son, then we can't let that faith waver now," Jonathan said.

Martha started crying and Jonathan hugged her. Alex joined in the family hug.

Jonathan was driving the truck. Martha was in the middle and Alex on the far right. Martha had their family dog, Shelby, sitting on Martha's lap. Jonathan pulled out of the driveway to see a beat up truck pulling up their driveway. Jonathan stopped. The door of the truck opened and Jason Teague got out of the truck with a shotgun. Alex, Jonathan, Martha, and Shelby all got out of the truck.

Jason was Clark's football coach from high school. After getting fired from the job for dating a student, Jason had begun working with his mother, Genevieve, to try and find the stones that Clark was looking for.

"Jason, what's wrong?" Jonathan asked.

Jason's clothes were ragged and he was very dirty. Alex thought he saw a blood wound on his gut.

"Where's Clark?" Jason asked.

Jonathan looked at the truck. "Well, he's not here. Why don't you just put down the shotgun and we can talk about this."

Jason got angry and aimed the shotgun at the truck. He shot and the front windshield shattered.

"TELL ME WHERE HE IS," Jason screamed.

Jonathan and Alex had been tied to a chair by Jason. He now had Martha in the floor of the kitchen with the shotgun pointed at her.

"A mother always knows her son's deep dark secrets," Jason said. "Now where does he keep the stones?"

"Why would Clark know anything about ancient stones?" Martha asked.

"Okay, come on," Jason desperately said grabbing Martha by the arm.

He slammed her down into the chair.

"When I ran into your son in Shanghai, while I was looking for one of the stones, I decided to do a little homework of my own," Jason said. "The more I dug the more Clark Kent's name just kept popping up."

"None of that makes any difference now," Jonathan said.

"You know, when my mother came to Smallville, she thought the Luthors would lead her to the stones. She was wrong, it was a farm boy: The one who has no record of ever being born. He is more connected to those stones than any of us," Jason said.

"There is a meteor shower about to tear this town apart," Jonathan said.

"You need to get to your mother and get her to safety," Martha said.

"Don't you think I know that?" Jason asked. "I can't find her anywhere."

Jonathan let out a breath of giving in. "Okay, Martha, go ahead. Tell him where the stones are."

Jason turned to Martha and got close to her listening. At that moment, Jonathan looked at Alex and made a signal that the two of them would both attack Jason.

"Go upstairs, to Clark's room…" Martha started.

Alex and Jonathan charged at Jason, each hitting him with the chair they were tied too. Jason fell. Alex untied the rope from his hands as he and Jonathan stood up. Jonathan punched Jason in the face and Jason fell back into the counter.

"Alex, get out of here," Jonathan said.

"Dad, I'm not leaving you all," Alex said.

"Go! Get to safety! The meteor shower will be here soon," Jonathan said.

Jason grabbed a glass and smashed it on Jonathan's head. Jonathan fell to the floor. Alex hesitated but took off toward the door. Jason shot the gun at him but missed. Alex busted out the door. He took off running to the end of the driveway and saw the truck Jason had driven onto the farm in. He jumped in it and took off driving.

Despite that he didn't have a driver's license; he hoped that law officials wouldn't punish him for trying to get out of town. He prayed that Jonathan and Martha would survive Jason's attack. He hated leaving them, but there was nothing he could do.

As Alex drove down the road, something hit the ground in the field to the right of him. He looked to the right to see a pile of smoke. He then looked into the sky to see that the meteor shower had begun. Meteors were crashing all around. Alex looked up to see that traffic was backed up and people were bailing from their cars and running. Alex stopped the truck and was preparing to bail when the truck was blown forward from behind him.

Alex was still buckled in as the truck flipped.

"God, shield me," Alex pleaded.

The truck landed upside down on the road. Alex closed his eyes in fear. He then opened his eyes and looked around. He was still conscious, hanging upside down in the truck. He unbuckled the seat belt and opened the truck door. He then landed onto the roof and crawled out of the truck. As he lay on the pavement, he saw meteors crashing all around.

"Henry," he heard a man yell frantically.

Alex looked over to see a boy picking up a toy truck. He then looked up and saw a meteor flying towards the boy.

"No!" Alex screamed.

Suddenly, Alex saw a red and blue blur come flying around and grab the boy. He then saw Clark appear from the blur. He had saved the boy. A man ran up to him.

"Henry," the father said.

Clark handed the boy to him.

"Thank you," the father replied.

Alex stood up. "Clark."

The father took off with Henry.

"Alex. Where are Mom and Dad?" Clark asked.

Kryptonite crashed to the ground by Clark. Clark was blown over. Alex could see him get weak from the meteor. Alex ran to the crater to get the Kryptonite away from Clark. Alex reached down and grabbed the meteor. The second his hand touched it, a lightning bolt struck Clark from the sky. The lightning shot from Clark to the Kryptonite. The meteor shattered and Alex was thrown back into the flipped truck.

Alex expected that after experiencing this, he would be unconscious or dead. However, he didn't feel hurt at all. He pushed himself off of the truck and ran to Clark. The Kryptonite had completely been destroyed by the lightning, yet Clark was still weak.

"Clark, what's wrong?" Alex asked.

"Alex…I…I am in pain," Clark cried.

"What about your powers?" Alex asked. "The Kryptonite is gone."

"My powers are gone. The lightning must have taken them out of me," Clark struggled to get out.

"Where did they go?" Alex asked.

"I…don't know," Clark said. "Alex….the final stone…is in my jacket. You have to unite them."

"Clark, you can do it. Come on. We need to get you up," Alex said.

Alex looked up to see that all of the meteors had stopped falling.

"Alex. Take the stone…You have to complete…the task," Clark said.

With that, Clark's head fell back. His eyes closed.

"Clark, no!" Alex screamed.

Alex felt Clark's neck but there was no pulse. He looked into the sky and then stood.

"Why did you let this happen?" Alex yelled to the heavens.

Alex got angry and stomped his foot on to the pavement. The second Alex's foot touched the pavement, it was as if another small meteor had hit the ground. His foot left a crater.

Alex was a little scared at what had happened. Either it had been weak pavement or he had gained an amazing amount of strength. Alex looked around to see that no one was on the road that they were on, so he walked over to the flipped truck. He had to test this in another area.

He grabbed the hood of the truck, which was upside down, and he lifted it up. The truck raised in his hand as though it were made of Styrofoam. Alex's theory had been correct.

Alex remember when Clark had been a freshman in high school, lightning had struck him while he was saving someone who was holding Kryptonite. This had resulted in Clark's powers being transferred into the person he was saving. It had taken Clark a few days to get the powers back.

Alex was sure that this is what had happened when the lightning had struck Clark. The question was, where had the lightning come from? It was a bright, sunny day and there was barely a cloud in the sky.

Alex walked over and reached into Clark's side pocket on his jacket and felt the stone. He pulled it out and looked at the black relic. It had the Kryptonian symbol on it that Alex knew to mean water. Alex knew what he had to do. He had to finish Clark's mission.

First, however, he had to make sure everyone was okay. He picked Clark's corpse up and threw it onto his shoulders. He then super sped to the Kent farm.

Upon arriving, he saw, to his horror, the house had been hit by a piece of Kryptonite. It was destroyed. Alex super sped into the barn and set Clark's corpse on the couch in the loft. He then ran down the stairs and out of the barn. As he exited the barn, he saw Chloe's pink car driving up the driveway.

Chloe stopped her car in front of him. Chloe and Lois immediately got out of the car.

"Alex. Is everyone okay?" Lois asked.

"Um, I don't know. I just got here," Alex said. "Let's check the house."

Alex wanted to enter the house to see what had been the results of the meteor, however, he was scared of what he would find. It was possible that Jason had killed Jonathan and Martha before the meteor had even hit the house. However, the Kent's truck was still in the driveway and so it was possible that either Jason ran from the farm or was still in the house.

Alex, Lois, and Chloe ran into the house. The place looked like a tornado had destroyed it. The house was nothing but a wasteland. Anything that had been here was destroyed.

Alex heard a voice that made him feel a bit relieved.

"Martha. Where are you sweetheart?" Jonathan frantically cried.

The three of them ran to where the kitchen had once been to see Jonathan with a cut on his forehead.

"Dad," Alex said.

"Alex. You are alive," Jonathan said, running to hug Alex.

Lois and Chloe began to search the house.

"Mrs. Kent. Clark?" Chloe searched.

Jonathan broke the hug with Alex.

"Clark wasn't in here. He's alright," Jonathan informed.

Alex's heart sank. He knew that Jonathan was wrong and that Clark was actually dead in the hay loft. This was not the time to inform them of this though.

"Martha," Jonathan continued searching.

It hit Alex. He had Clark's powers, so he would be able to x-ray and find her. However, when he tried to, he realized that he didn't know how to do it, so he couldn't do it.

"She's here," Lois said looking into the rubble.

Alex ran over and he and Jonathan began piling rubble off of Martha's unconscious body.

"Sweetheart, we are going to get you out of here. You are going to be just fine," Jonathan said.

Alex reached down and picked his mother's body up. The four of them walked out of the house and Alex put Martha in the truck. Jonathan got in the driver's seat. Chloe and Lois loaded into Chloe's car. Alex walked around to Jonathan's window.

"What happened to Jason?" Alex asked.

"He had us down about to shoot us right when a meteor crashed into the house," Jonathan said.

"I need to find him," Alex said.

"He is probably dead, son," Jonathan said.

"We need to make sure," Alex said. "Get Mom to the hospital. I'll be there later."

Jonathan drove the truck out of the driveway. Alex headed back into the house. He super sped around throwing things everywhere. Finally, he found the dead corpse of Jason. As he stood over it, he heard footsteps behind him.

He turned to see Lex Luthor standing at the entrance.

"Alex. How is your family?" Lex asked.

Lex Luthor had been friends with Clark since an accident in Clark's freshman year, when Lex had driven his car into Clark and off a bridge. Clark had saved Lex. They had had to lie to Lex and say that he had driven off the bridge and Clark had dove in to save him. Lex was the richest citizen in Smallville and he owned the company, Luthorcorp. Luthorcorp was a fertilizing company and it had been given to Lex by his father Lionel Luthor.

"Dad is fine. He just left and took Mom to the hospital. She is unconscious," Alex reported.

"And Clark?" Lex asked.

Alex knew that he couldn't release the news of Clark's death yet.

"I'm not sure," Alex said.

"Who is that?" Lex asked looking at Jason's corpse.

Alex stepped aside so Lex could see.

"Jason," Lex stated.

"He was trying to kill my parents when the meteors hit," Alex said.

"Why would he try to kill your parents," Lex asked.

Alex knew that he couldn't reveal the truth to Lex, or it would lead Lex to know that Clark had been involved with the stones. Lex had also been looking for the stones.

"I'm not sure. He never exactly told them. And now that he's dead, I'm not sure that we will ever know," Alex lied.

"Well, Alex, we should get you to the hospital to check on your mother," Lex offered.

"Um, that's okay. There are some things here that I need to do," Alex declined.

Alex knew that he couldn't leave Clark's corpse in the loft. He had to do something with it. Also, he needed to go and unite the stones. He supposed that Clark had found the second one and put it in the cave and now this one that Alex possessed was the final one.

"Alex, the town is in peril, what kind of farm chores could you possibly have to do?" Lex asked.

"I am trying to clean some of the house up and salvage as much as I can," Alex said.

"Of course. Some things simply can't be replaced," Lex said.

Lex turned and began to walk out of the house.

"I'll head to the hospital and check on your mother," Lex said.

With that, he left.


	3. Chapter 3: NamEk and Aethyr

Chapter 3

Nam-Ek and Aethyr

Alex walked up the barn stairs to the hay loft. Jonathan had turned part of the loft into a clubhouse for Alex and Clark and so they spent a lot of time there. Jonathan called it their fortress of solitude.

Alex stood looking at the corpse of Clark that was laid on the couch. His brother had died with a wish that Alex fulfill Clark's destiny. That was what Alex had to do. The question was, where was he supposed to hide Clark until he could break the news that Clark was dead.

It was clear to Alex that his first duty of business was to tell Jonathan of Clark's death. Then he would proceed to unite the stones. Alex picked up Clark's body and super sped to the hospital.

Alex had taken Clark's body to the morgue and then gone up to the fourth floor of Smallville Medical Center. The hall was filled with people that had been hurt by the meteor shower. Alex headed down the hall until he arrived at Chloe and Lois in the hallway on a bench.

"Girls, where is my Dad?" Alex asked.

"He's in the room there with your Mom," Lois said.

Alex nodded and proceeded into the hospital room. He locked the door and looked at his mother in the bed. Jonathan was sitting in a seat beside the bed.

"Dad, I need to talk to you," Alex said.

Alex was terrified of breaking the news to his father of Clark's death. He hadn't been this nervous since asking Kellie Talman to the 8th grade prom.

"Sit down, son. What is it?" Jonathan asked.

Alex didn't sit down. "We need to talk somewhere else. Mom might be able to hear us and I don't want her to hear what I need to tell you."

"Well, Alex. There is not really anywhere private in the hospital right now," Jonathan informed. "It's packed with people injured from the meteors."

"Exactly," Alex said.

Alex and Jonathan were sitting in the truck in the parking lot of the hospital.

"Alex, what is so important that we had to come all the way out here to discuss it?" Jonathan asked.

"Dad, um. I really don't know how to tell you this," Alex began.

Jonathan knew something was serious by the expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

Alex decided to just cut straight to the chase. "Dad, I just got back from the morgue. Clark is dead."

Jonathan's mouth fell wide open. "That's not possible."

A tear came to Alex's eyes. He had been bottling up the grief of Clark's death as long as he could.

"Yes it is, Dad," Alex cried. "He's gone. I watched him die. I'm the one who took him to the morgue."

Jonathan was trying to fight the tears, but they also came to him. "What happened?"

Alex told Jonathan about what had happened to Clark with the lightning and the Kryptonite. He also told Jonathan that he now had Clark's powers.

"Clark's powers were transferred to you, like they were to Eric Summers," Jonathan said.

"Don't you understand? It's might fault. If the powers hadn't transferred into me, Clark wouldn't have died," Alex took the blame.

"You are just like Clark, always blaming yourself," Jonathan said. "Alex, there was nothing you could have done."

"Clark left me with a mission. I have to complete it," Alex said reaching into his pocket. He pulled out the stone. "I have to unite the stones."

"I've already lost one of my sons to Jor-El's crusade," Jonathan said.

"I know," Alex said. "But I'm not doing this for Jor-El. I'm doing it because Clark asked me to."

Alex super sped from the truck and to the Kawatche Cave. When he arrived, he saw the wall in the cave, where he knew the stones must be behind. He broke through the wall with his strength and approached a stone table. Two of the stones were on the table and the octagonal disk that had come on Clark's spaceship was inserted in a slot on the table.

Alex pulled the stone from his pocket and looked at it. He set it on the table and the three stones lit up in the primary colors. The stones all formed into a triangle shaped crystal and it began to float. Alex grabbed it and it began to burn his hand and suddenly, he was standing in an arctic desert.

He looked around and saw nothing but snow…and some mountains….and snow….and a blue sky….and snow. He looked around wondering what he was supposed to do. The crystal floated from Alex's hand and pointed into the distance. Alex grabbed it and threw it in that direction.

He stood, watching it fly. It crashed into the snow and Alex watched as large crystals, bigger than a house, began to blast out of the ground. He watched as a giant crystal fortress formed in front of him.

It was amazing. It was like a crystal palace. He took off walking towards it. When he finally arrived inside, he looked around to see that it was massive. Down the steps, in the fortress was a crystal console.

Alex approached it and a crystal floated out. Alex grabbed it and it lit up. A voice suddenly began to talk to him.

"You are not Kal-El," it said.

"Who are you?" Alex asked.

"Where is Kal-El?" the voice asked.

"Tell me who you are and then I will tell you where Kal-El is," Alex boldly stated.

"I am Jor-El, the father of Kal-El," the voice said.

This must have also been an artificial intelligence like the one in the cave.

"Where is Kal-El?" Jor-El asked in a more angry tone this time.

"Kal-El is dead. He was killed in the meteor shower," Alex said.

"Why are you here?" Jor-El asked.

"Kal-El's powers were transferred to me before he died. He asked me to unite the stones as he could trust me in doing it," Alex explained.

"This destiny was made only for Kal-El. You cannot be part of it," Jor-El said.

With that, the fortress went dark. The only light was that of the sun shining in through the crystal. Alex looked up.

"Jor-El, this is what Kal-El wanted me to do!" he screamed. "Let me do what he was supposed to!"

Jor-El did not respond. Alex dropped the crystal on to the snowy floor.

"If this is how you want it to end, so be it," Alex yelled in anger.

Alex super sped from the fortress.

Alex arrived back at the hospital. He took the elevator to the fourth floor and walked into the hall. Upon arriving, he saw the entire hospital torn apart, about half as bad as the Kent house had been. Alex took off down the hallway to Martha's room. The room wasn't damaged and Alex could see Jonathan and Martha inside it.

He turned to see Lois standing on the other side of the hallway.

"Lois, what happened?" Alex asked.

"This guy and girl showed up and destroyed the place," Lois said.

"What were they doing?" Alex asked.

"They were looking for some guy named Kal-El," Lois said. "Ever hear of him?"

Alex was shocked. Whoever had destroyed the hospital knew Clark's Kryptonian origins. Alex decided that he would have to play the part of Kal-El to earth now that Clark was dead.

He turned to Lois. "Where'd they go?"

Alex walked into the Luthor mansion and super sped around looking for the two people. Then he ran into the library to see Lana lying in a pile of broken glass unconscious. He saw the two that Lois had described standing there.

"Who are you?" Alex asked as the man and woman looked at him.

"Where is Kal-El?" the man aske.

"Tell me who you are and I will tell you where Kal-El is," Alex said.

"I am Nam-Ek and this is Aethyr," the man said.

"Now, where is Kal-El?" Aethyr asked.

"I'm Kal-El," Alex said.

"Excellent," Nam-Ek said. "Now, join us, Kal-El. We will make this planet a utopia like that of Krypton."

"Killing people at the hospital? Destroying the place? You call that a utopia?" Alex asked.

"Some must die for the greater good," Nam-Ek said. "They were necessary casualties."

"There will be no more casualties," Alex replied. "I'm not going to let you kill anyone else."

"So be it," Nam-Ek sinisterly smiled.

Nam-Ek began to pull a silver bracelet off of his wrist. Alex quickly super sped at him and knocked the bracelet from his hand. It began to float into the air and Alex saw a blue portal open.

Nam-Ek punched Alex in the gut and Alex sent an uppercut at him. Nam-Ek flew back into one of the bookshelves. Aethyr came running at Alex and he pushed her away. She flew back into the portal and vanished into it.

Alex felt Nam-Ek get a choke hold on him from behind.

"You are going into the Phantom Zone," Nam-Ek said. "You will rot there forever."

Alex struggled with Nam-Ek as he dragged him towards the portal. As Nam-Ek was about to throw Alex in, he swung around and sent Nam-Ek flying in. The portal closed and Alex saw a glasslike square float out of the window and into space with the two of them in it.

Alex looked over at Lana. He ran to her and held her head up.

"Clark," Lana said, still with groggy vision.

"No, it's Alex," Alex said.

"Where are they?" Lana asked.

"They're gone," Alex replied. "We need to get you to the hospital."


	4. Chapter 4: Family Reunion

Chapter 4

Family Reunion

After a week or so, Martha had been released from the hospital. With super speed, Alex had reconstructed the house and the Kent's were now getting back to normal life.

However, now with everything being over, the Kent's had to face the hardest part: Clark's funeral.

Alex stood at the cemetery over Clark's casket. Jonathan and Martha were standing beside each other to his right. Alex looked across the cemetery as so many familiar faces emerged onto the scene.

Lois, Chloe, Lana, and Lex had all shown up, as expected. Alex also saw Pete Ross. Many students who Clark had just graduated with showed up. Also, Alex saw some people he hadn't seen in a few years: his family.

While Jonathan was an only child, Martha had two siblings. Both of those siblings had huge families.

Danny Tanner was Martha's brother. His wife had been killed in a car accident a few years before and so he was left to raise their three daughters: DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle. To rally help, he had asked for his wife's brother, Jesse Katsopolis, and his best friend, Joey Gladstone, if they would help him raise the girls. Now, the six of them lived together in a house in San Francisco.

Audrey Nichols was Martha's sister. She had just recently remarried after a divorce. She had married Walter Nichols, whose wife had died a few months prior. Audrey had had two children by her first husband, Drake and Megan Parker. Walter had a son by his first wife, Josh Nichols. The five of them lived in San Diego. The entire family was at the gravesite.

Alex watched Pastor Bruce Barnes approach the gravesite. He had already delivered the message at the funeral.

"I'd like to quickly share a passage of scripture with you," Bruce said. "1 Thessalonians 4 says '…the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.'"

This was one of Alex's favorite passages of the Bible. Jonathan, Martha, Alex, and Clark were all Christians, however, Alex felt himself to be a little dead spiritually.

"We are thankful for promises like this as we deal with the loss of this young man," Bruce encouraged. "May God be with the family and friends."

The casket began to slowly lower into the ground. At that point, all of the guests began to leave. Alex, Jonathan, and Martha stayed in their place. Alex also saw Lana, Chloe, Lois, Pete, and Lex stay.

The casket got into the ground and Alex reached down and took a handful of dirt. He slowly dropped the dirt into the hole and then stood. He looked across to see Chloe, Lana, and Lois with tears coming from their eyes. Pete was comforting Chloe and Lex was comforting Lana. Lois turned and walked away. Alex turned and walked down the hill from the grave.

He knew what he had to do. Kal-El had been sent to earth for a purpose. He had to take that purpose upon himself and complete the task. He just didn't know how.

Alex now stood in the loft. He was looking out the window across the cornfields. He grabbed his tie and loosened it and turned to see a photo of Jonathan, Martha, Clark, and him sitting on the desk. He walked over and looked at it.

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs in the loft. Alex turned to see Pastor Barnes.

"Bruce," Alex stated.

"Hello, Alex," Bruce greeted. "I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing."

"I was there with Clark when he died," Alex explained. "I still don't even know what killed him, but I am dealing with it the best I can."

"What do you feel God wants you to do from here?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know," Alex replied. "I struggle to know anything he is telling me at times."

"I've found that in order to know what he is saying, you have to listen," Bruce said. "I challenge you to do so."

"Thanks," Alex said.

"I'll be praying for you and your family," Bruce said.

Bruce turned and walked out of the loft. Alex looked out the window again.

_Okay, I'm listening. Tell me what to do,_ he thought to himself.

Alex walked into the house after having gotten the newspaper and mail. Danny and Audrey's family were all in the living room with Jonathan and Martha, sitting around talking.

Alex looked at the cover of the _Smallville Ledger_ to see a story that made his heart sink again.

**Smallville High Football Star Dies in Meteor Shower**

By. Richard Harris

It was a sad day at the cemetery of Smallville Community Church as half the town gathered for the funeral of Clark Jerome Kent. Kent was a graduate of the Smallville High class of 2005.

"He was actually the last one to get his diploma before the army came in and announced the meteor shower," Helen Slater, Vice Principal of Smallville High, said.

Kent was nearly unknown until his senior year. Prior to it, Kent was a reporter for Smallville High's student newspaper, _The Torch_.

"Clark was always a big help to us at _The Torch_ and he always was a help anywhere else he was needed," Chloe Sullivan, Kent's best friend, said.

In senior year, Kent tried out for Smallville High's football team and was chosen and put as starting quarterback. Kent led the season to an undefeated record and a state championship victory.

Tragically, Kent was caught in the meteor shower and killed by a meteor. It was almost as if a dramatic scene from a Hollywood picture were being played with sad music in the background, as Kent's younger brother, Alex, dropped dirt into the grave of Kent and** See KENT on A4**

Alex tossed the newspaper on to the kitchen table. He held one hand on the back of the chair and the other on his forehead. He didn't bother flipping to the jump portion of the article to read it. The cover portion was enough.

"What is it, son?" Jonathan asked.

Alex looked into the living room to see everyone looking at him.

"There is a feature story in the paper about Clark," Alex informed.

"Pastor Barnes came by looking for you," Martha said.

"I know. He came to the loft," Alex replied.

"What did he want?" Joey asked.

"He just wanted to talk," Alex said.

Alex began to look at the letters that had come in the mail. As he flipped through them, he noticed that there was a letter addressed to him. He opened the letter and pulled out the enclosed paper.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

Of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

_(Order of Merlin, FIRST Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Magwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear Mr. Kent,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall,

_Deputy Headmistress_

Alex read the letter wondering if it was some kind of prank. His first thought was that it was crazy and that wizards didn't exist, but then he remembered that he possessed alien powers. If aliens existed, wizards were just as likely to.

Alex suddenly had random images pass through his mind. He saw Bruce telling him to "listen." He then saw Clark laying on the road, about to die, telling him to take on his destiny. He was suddenly seeing some kind of bright light and a voice was coming from it.

"This is your destiny," the voice said. "Embrace it."

Alex was suddenly back in the kitchen as if nothing had happened. Everyone in the kitchen was staring at him. Had he just imagined all of that?

"What's that?" Jonathan asked.

Not wanting to discuss the issue at the moment, Alex lied.

"It's just junk mail," he said, stuffing the letter into his pocket.

"Jonathan, Martha, Alex, how can we help you?" Audrey asked. "I mean, you all are our family. The least we can do is help you out."

The truth was that Alex didn't want any help. He didn't want his entire family sitting around the living room feeling sorry for him. He didn't want all the misery. He just wanted to be left alone.

With that, he turned and walked out of the house. He walked across the driveway to the barn and went up into the loft.

Having never been around any other family than Clark, Jonathan, and Martha, he wasn't sure how to deal with this death. He had never had a family member die. He couldn't remember having any loved one die at any time in his life. Despite that he now possessed Clark's powers, he felt more human than he had before Clark's death.

He thought about how Lana must feel. She had lost her parents in the meteor shower and then her boyfriend, Whitney, had been killed in war. Now Clark was dead. She must have been taking it really hard, as Chloe, Lois, and all the others probably were as well.

Alex pulled the letter from his pocket and looked at it. Why was he getting a letter from a wizard school in Europe? He didn't know what to think. He wasn't even aware that wizards existed.

He stood and walked to the window of the loft, looking out at the cornfields as the sun stood high in the sky. He closed his eyes and his mind went back to what Bruce had said to him.

"I've found that in order to know what he is saying you have to listen."

Alex stood in serene peace listening for what he hoped would be an answer. He had questioned God a bit lately in light of his brother being killed, but if God was really trying to tell him something, he wanted to hear it.

_God, if you are there and really want me to know something, just tell me_ he prayed in his mind.

Before Alex even finished thinking the prayer, he heard a voice from within the loft behind him.

"I told you to embrace my destiny, yet here you stand depressed," the voice said.

Alex turned to see Clark standing at the top of the stairs. Clark was wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt, not tucked in.

Awe struck, Alex looked at his brother.

"Clark," Alex spoke in amazed disbelief. "Are you real?"

Clark didn't answer his question but simply looked at Alex.

"How are you here?" Alex asked.

"I'm here to guide you," Clark said. "I'm here because your destiny is too great for you to understand and figure out on your own."

Alex held up the letter. "Do you know about this?"

"It's a letter from Hogwarts," Clark said.

"What is Hogwarts?" Alex asked.

"Hogwarts is a boarding school in Europe that teaches young people how to use magic," Clark said.

"So, let me get this straight," Alex said. "My destiny is to travel to Europe and become a magician?"

Clark laughed. "No. Alex, let me ask you a question. What cliché is used so often at church about how Christians are to live in regards to the world?"

"In the world but not of the world?" Alex guessed.

"Exactly," Clark said.

"But what does that have to do with anything related to a magical school?" Alex asked.

"I can't tell you, right now, why you must go to the school, but you must," Clark said. "You will better understand when you have been in that world."

"So you are telling me, I am being called to be in the world of magic, but not of it?" Alex asked.

Clark nodded.

"Do you know how this small town of legalistic Christians is going to view that?" Alex asked.

"Do you know how the religious people viewed Jesus hanging out with prostitutes?" Clark asked. "You aren't called to worry about what the people of this town are going to think of you going to a wizard school. They don't have to know. In fact, I would keep it a secret, if I were you. You need to get in that world and get familiar with it. It is part of your destiny."

"I don't understand a thing you are telling me," Alex honestly assessed.

"You won't right now," Clark said. "But one day you will."

Alex turned and looked out the window again. "Okay, I don't understand why you are telling me this, but I will do it."

Alex turned back towards Clark, but Clark was gone. He looked around the loft and saw no sign of him. Had he just been talking to himself this whole time?


	5. Chapter 5: The Wand

Chapter 5

The Wand

The moon was bright over the fields of Kansas as Alex was still in the loft. He stared out the window, looking up at the majestic lunar image. He had been here for hours trying to figure out what to do since Clark had appeared to him.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Jonathan and Martha coming up the stairs.

"You've been up here a while," Jonathan said.

Alex turned back to the window.

"Are you okay?" Jonathan asked.

Alex hesitated. "Clark was here."

"What?" Martha asked.

"Clark appeared to me in the loft," Alex said. "And he explained this to me."

Alex held up the Hogwarts letter. Jonathan took it and looked at it.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Jonathan asked. "Why would they accept you? We have no connections there."

"Actually, we do," Martha hesitantly said.

"Who?" Jonathan asked.

"Audrey and Danny's kids are all going there," Martha said. "They will be first years this coming year."

"We are not sending our son to a school of magic," Jonathan said.

"Dad, that's what Clark was here about," Alex quickly interjected. "He told me that there was some kind of purpose that I had to serve there and that it was my destiny."

"Alex, you could have been imagining Clark here," Jonathan said.

"He wasn't," a voice said from behind them.

Jonathan and Martha turned and Alex saw Clark there.

"I am here to help him until he reaches the point of understanding what his mission is," Clark said.

"You want Alex going here?" Jonathan asked, holding up the letter, in disbelief.

"You won't understand why right now," Clark said. "But you've got to trust me."

Alex stood in the loft with the letter from Hogwarts. He wasn't quite sure how to get in contact with this school or where to get the supplies. They hadn't listed a phone number. It mentioned that they were "awaiting his owl" but he was unsure as to what that even meant.

He looked at the list of school supplies needed. It was a list of things he had never been asked to buy for school in his life. They included robes, a cauldron, a wand, and a list of odd books. He had no idea where he would find these types of items. He was pretty sure they didn't sell them at Wal-Mart.

As Alex looked out the window, he heard footsteps on the stairs. He turned to see Pete and Chloe coming up the stairs.

"How are you doing, Alex?" Chloe asked.

"It still hurts, but I am trying to accept it," Alex said.

"I need to come clean about something," Chloe began.

"She already told me," Pete added.

"What's up, Chloe?" Alex asked.

"I knew Clark's secret," Chloe confessed.

"What secret?" Alex asked as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"That he was a meteor freak. I saw him catch a car like it was a beach ball," Chloe said.

A meteor freak had become the term used to describe someone who had gained super abilities by being infected by Kryptonite. It actually happened very often.

"Clark wasn't a meteor freak," Alex replied.

Alex was telling the truth, because Clark hadn't been infected by the meteors.

"Alex, I saw him catch that car," Chloe said.

"Chloe, are you sure it was Clark?" Alex asked.

"Black hair, red and blue clothing, tall, dark, and handsome. It was him," Chloe replied.

"How long ago was this?" Alex asked.

"About a month after Christmas," Chloe replied.

"Well, I'm sorry, Chloe. Clark wasn't a meteor freak," Alex defended.

"You know what, Alex. You and Clark have always been liars about things and I am about tired of putting up with it," Chloe asserted.

Chloe took off walking down the stairs and out of the barn. Alex looked out the loft window to see her get into her car and just sit. Pete was still in the loft.

"Why didn't you tell her?" Pete asked.

"Because Clark's secret is to be kept secret forever," Alex responded.

"Did a piece of Kryptonite kill him, like the paper said?" Pete asked.

"I can't explain how he died," Alex said. "A meteor crashed near him and it made him weak. I went to get the Kryptonite out of his area and he was struck by lightning. There wasn't a cloud in the sky though."

"How is that possible?" Pete asked. "Clark has been struck by lightning before with Kryptonite around and it didn't kill him."

"I don't know," Alex replied. "None of it makes any sense."

"Well, good luck figuring it out," Pete said turning to walk out of the loft.

Alex watched Pete leave. He then looked back at his Hogwarts letter. He read the bottom. "We await your owl…" What did that mean?

At that moment, an owl landed on the window of the loft. He looked at it and then looked at the letter again. Perhaps the owl was supposed to deliver the message.

Alex pulled out a pen, paper, and envelope. He wrote a short message to the people at Hogwarts.

"I would like to come but I am unsure as to where to buy all of these items. Could someone help me?" Alex said as he wrote it.

Alex put the note in the envelope, sealed it, and gave it to the owl. The owl took off flying.

That night, Alex stood in the loft. He sat looking at the obituary of Clark. Pain still stuck with him on how bad it had hurt.

He stood up and looked out the window at the night sky. He then began looking through the telescope that Hiram Kent had given Jonathan, who had passed it on to Clark and Alex. As Alex looked through the telescope, he heard a wooshing sound behind him and looked up.

A man was standing there in a shirt and tie with a baggy vest over it.

"Who are you?" Alex asked.

"I am Remus Lupin. I've come to show you where to get your supplies," the man said.

"Hogwarts got my message then, I take it," Alex questioned.

"Yes. They asked me to come and help you," Lupin responded.

"First, could you tell me a little about Hogwarts?" Alex asked.

"Let's get to London," Lupin said. "I will explain everything there."

Lupin grabbed Alex's arm.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked.

"Just hang on," Lupin said.

Alex suddenly felt as though he were being sucked through a vacuum. It felt as though his insides were being pulled out.

He blinked and he was standing on a sidewalk next to Lupin in daylight. He looked up to see the clock tower of London.

"What just happened?" Alex asked.

"You and I just apparated," Lupin said. "It is a very common way of travelling for wizards."

"Ugh, I feel like I am going to throw up," Alex said.

"Yes, very common for a first time," Lupin said. "Come."

Alex began to walk with Lupin.

"So, what is Hogwarts?" Alex asked.

"It is over a thousand years old. It was founded by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Until about the year 2000, students started it when they were eleven, however, recently, they have changed the age to starting at fourteen," Lupin explained. "This is the first year that they have accepted American students."

"Right," Alex said. "So, where exactly do we go to buy these supplies?"

"In here," Lupin said.

Lupin had stopped at a door at the end of the alley. Alex looked up at the sign above to see that it was a hotel/pub called "The Leaky Cauldron."

Lupin didn't talk to anyone when they entered. He simply led Alex to the back and exited into a walk in closet. The walls of it were made of bricks. Lupin pulled out a wand and began tapping various bricks on the wall. When he finished, the wall began to part, like the Red Sea, and open to a marketplace.

"This is Diagon Alley. The place where you buy all wizard supplies and equipment," Lupin said.

"Great. So, what kind of currency do they use here?" Alex asked. "All I have on me is about twenty bucks."

"Um, right. You have American money, don't you," Lupin said.

"Is there some kind of wizard currency?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Lupin answered. "I guess we need to find a way to get you some money, don't we."

"I don't really see what I can do," Alex said. "I'm fourteen. It's not like I get a regular paycheck."

"We can convert your dollars into wizard currency," Lupin said. "That will give you most of what you need. I think I can spot you a little bit until you can get more money together."

"You don't have to do that," Alex said.

"I am willing," Lupin said. "You seem to be trustworthy enough."

"Thank you," Alex said.

After converting the currency, Alex and Lupin exited Gringotts Wizard Bank.

"So, what are these coins exactly?" Alex asked.

"There are three coins in wizard money. Galleons are the biggest, followed by sickles, and then knuts. 17 sickles equals 1 galleon. 29 knuts equals 1 sickle," Lupin explained.

Alex nodded in understanding.

"I have some business of my own to attend to here," Lupin said. "Will you have any problems getting your supplies?"

"I should be able to find my way around," Alex said. "If not, I will just do like at Wal-Mart and ask someone."

"What's Wal-Mart?" Lupin asked.

"Uh, it's…never mind," Alex said.

"When you finish up, meet me in the Leaky Cauldron and I will take you home," Lupin said.

"Thank you," Alex said.

Lupin took off in the opposite direction. Alex walked down to the first store on his right. Before entering, he saw Audrey and Drake exit.

"Alex, hey man, what's up?" Drake asked.

"Hey guys," Alex said. "Who knew I'd run into you all here?"

"Are Jonathan and Martha here with you?" Audrey asked.

"No, one of the Hogwarts staff brought me here," Alex said.

Alex saw Josh exit behind them.

"I don't like that shopkeeper's parrot," Josh said. "It called me a hoodlum."

"You tried to give it a cracker," Drake said. "What was it supposed to do?"

"You hush," Josh pointed at Drake.

"I'm sorry, guys, I've gotta get all these supplies," Alex said. "I'll see all of you later."

Alex had done most of his shopping, but the last thing he needed was a wand. Alex headed towards the shop known as Ollivander's. Alex opened the door and walked in to see a man that had to be at least eight foot tall. Next to him was a skinny teenager that was about Alex's age. The boy had round glasses and interestingly, a cut on his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt.

"Hello, young one," the old man behind the counter said. "First year at Hogwarts as well, I presume."

"Yes," Alex said. "My wand is the last thing I need."

"I am Mr. Ollivander," the man greeted. "Hmm, let me think. Okay, I know a good one for you."

Ollivander took off into the back.

"Hi, I'm Alex Kent," Alex greeted the two.

"Good to meet you," the boy said.

"Um, what is your name?" Alex asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the boy said. "Everyone I have seen today has known my name. I guess I am just not used to someone who doesn't. I'm Harry Potter."

Alex shook Harry's hand.

"I'm Rubeus Hagrid," the big man said.

"Hello," Alex said.

Ollivander appeared again. "Try this one."

Ollivander handed Alex the wand. Alex took it and it instantly blew up as though a firecracker had been inside of it. Alex jumped back, a little scared from it.

"Nope. Not the right one," Ollivander said.

The next wand caught on fire the second Alex grabbed it.

Twenty wands later, Alex was thinking of just walking out of the store and super speeding home. Harry and Hagrid had left.

"Hmm, I think I might know the correct one," Ollivander speculated.

He took off into the back and emerged with a wand box. He looked at it.

"I have had this wand for over a century and no one has ever been able to use it," Ollivander explained. "It has been thought to be a dud and that it needed to be trashed, but I kept it around just in case. Perhaps you are the one that it will choose."

_A century? How old are you? _Alex thought.

Alex grabbed the wand as Ollivander handed it to him. The room exploded in a beautiful light.

"I knew there was a reason I was keeping it around," Ollivander said. "That will be seven galleons."

Alex paid him and exited the shop.

"There is something special about that wand," a voice said to the right of him.

Alex looked right to see Clark.

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked.

"Come with me, I'll explain everything," Clark said.

Alex and Clark began to walk up the alley, towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"The wand you just purchased is not an ordinary wand," Clark said. "As Ive already told you, your destiny is not to be a wizard. You are to live among the wizards, as your destiny will take place with them, but you are not to be one."

"Okay, so what is this wand?" Alex asked.

"The Ark of the Covenant held three items," Clark said. "The Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod, and a pot of manna. Those three items have been scattered abroad. Your want happens to be made from Aaron's rod. It is not the only wand made from the rod. There were two."

"There is a second wand out there like this?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Clark said. "That is one of your objectives. You need to find the second wand and destroy it. Also, you need to be looking for the two other items of the Ark. The Ten Commandments and the pot of manna all must be united with the rod."

"What is so important about this?" Alex asked. "I mean, the Ark of the Covenant was in the Old Testament. It doesn't matter now."

"You don't understand your mission at the moment, but you must do what I am telling you," Clark said.

"Okay, so what is so different about this wand aside from its Hebrew origin?" Alex asked. "And how am I supposed to just live among the wizards at a wizard school without being a wizard?"

"The power that comes from that wand is not magic," Clark said. "It is faith."

Alex laughed. "Clark, that sounds pretty corny…..and weird."

"Through faith, you will be able to use this wand as though you are doing magic, but you won't be," Clark said.

"Is this for some reason of magic being seen as satanic?" Alex asked.

"No," Clark said. "You do not understand now why you have to do this. But one day you will."

Alex and Clark reached the Leaky Cauldron.

"Find the other wand and unite the items of the Ark of the Covenant," Clark said. "Those are your objectives."


	6. Chapter 6: The Story of Voldemort

Chapter 6

The Story of Voldemort

August 31 arrived and Alex got up early in the morning. He had prepared all of his Hogwarts supplies the night before and they sat in the loft. Alex took a shower and headed up to the loft. Martha and Jonathan joined him.

To prevent Jonathan and Martha from having to purchase plane tickets, they had decided that Alex would super speed to Kings Cross train station in London.

"I can come back at any time with my speed," Alex said. "Things will be fine."

After hugging both of his parents, Alex gathered his things, took one last look around the loft, and super sped out the window with his things headed toward Kings Cross.

Alex arrived at Kings Cross train station. It was 10:30 and his train was set to leave at 11:00. The train was actually called the Hogwarts Express. From what he understood, Hogwarts was supposed to be secret, yet there was a train for it. Then, Alex noticed something odd. The train was on Platform 9 ¾. Alex looked up to see platforms 9 and 10. The only thing in between was a brick wall.

As Alex stood, he heard a voice behind him say something.

"Excuse me, could you tell me how I might find Platform 9 ¾?" it said.

Alex turned to see Harry Potter talking to an attendant.

"Think you are being funny," the attendant responded. "Teenagers."

The man turned and walked away from Harry.

_He hates his job___Alex thought.

Alex pushed his trolley to Harry.

"You can't find the platform either?" Alex questioned.

"Nope," Harry replied. "Any ideas?"

Alex looked around. As he looked, he saw someone standing near the brick wall between the platforms. As he was glancing around, he glanced back at the person a second later to see that the person wasn't there anymore. He continued to glance around, but took a double take when he saw this.

"Harry," Alex said, still looking towards the brick wall. "Someone was just there but now they are gone."

"Brilliant," Harry replied. "Why does that help us?"

"Perhaps the platform is hidden," Alex reasoned. "…to prevent muggles from finding it."

"How are we supposed to find it if it is?" Harry asked.

Alex saw a blonde haired teenager and an African American teenager walk up beside them. They looked at each other and the African American took off pushing a cart at the brick wall. Alex saw the boy disappear into the wall.

"Whoa," Alex said.

"I saw it too," Harry said.

"Excuse me," Alex called to the blonde haired boy.

The boy turned and looked at them.

"Um, neither of us have any idea how to do this," Alex said. "Could you help us?"

The boy laughed. "Of course. It's me and my friend Roger's first time to Hogwarts too. I'm Jake Taylor."

"Alex Kent," Alex said.

"Harry Potter," Harry said.

"Oh yeah, I've heard of you once or twice," Jake said.

"As has everyone," Harry said, almost annoyed.

"Okay, well, it's really quite simple," Jake said. "You just run at wall."

"That's it?" Alex asked.

"Yep," Jake said. "It will put you on to the platform for the Hogwarts Express."

"It's hard to believe it is that easy," Harry said.

"Try it," Jake said.

Harry looked at the wall. Alex watched him take off running at it and vanish into it.

"Well, here goes," Alex said.

Alex took off running at it. He passed through the bricks as though they were fog and was suddenly on another platform.

A majestic red and black train stood in front of him with the name "Hogwarts Express" written on the front.

Alex sat on the train in the same cab as Harry, Jake, and the African American boy, whose name was Roger Dawson. The entire student body was on the train as it headed towards Hogwarts.

"So where are you guys from?" Alex asked.

"We are both from Santa Monica," Jake said.

Roger seemed to be a bit shy.

"I am from Kansas in a town you've probably never heard of," Alex said. "Smallville."

"I saw a news report about a meteor shower there," Jake said.

"Yeah," Alex said in a sad tone, thinking about Clark.

The door to the cab opened and a red-haired boy stood there about their age.

"Do you guys mind if I sit in here?" the boy asked. "All the other cabs are quite packed."

"No, you're fine," Jake said. "Come on in."

The boy sat down next to Harry.

"My name is Ron Weasley," the boy said.

Alex and Jake introduced themselves and then Roger told who he was in a shy manner.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said.

"Bloody hell," Ron said in amazement.

"What exactly is it that makes you so famous, Harry?" Alex asked. "I'm not from a wizard family, so you are not really a celebrity to me."

"It has to do with me defeating Voldemort…." Harry started.

Ron gasped at Harry saying the name.

"Voldemort?" Alex asked. "What kind of parent names their son Voldemort?"

"Stop saying it," Ron trembled.

"Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort," Alex repeated. "What's so bad about it? Am I going to get struck by lightning?"

"Voldemort was so feared by the wizarding world that they were afraid to even say his name," Jake said.

"Okay, so how did you defeat him?" Alex asked Harry.

"I don't really know the story of what happened," Harry replied.

"Basically, You-Know-Who sent a killing curse at you and because your mother had given up her life to protect you, you were protected with love and the spell rebounded on to You-Know-Who," Ron said.

"And apparently, that is what gave me this lightning bolt scar," Harry said.

"Wow," Alex sympathized. "I'm sorry. That really makes you cherish your own family."

"I'd give anything to see my parents again," Harry said.


	7. Chapter 7: The Sorting Hat

Chapter 7

The Sorting Hat

The train arrived at the stop and students were told to put on their uniforms. Alex, Harry, Ron, Jake, and Roger changed in the compartment after pulling the blind down. Alex found the uniform a little uncomfortable.

"Don't tell me we have to wear a tie?" Alex asked.

"Yep," Ron said. "A black one."

Alex pulled the gray dress pants on and tucked the white dress shirt into them. He then tied the black tie and pulled the gray sweater over the shirt and tie. Alex hated wearing ties. He found it extremely uncomfortable wearing the sweater. He had always hated wearing a sweater over dress clothes.

After getting this on, he put the black robe on. Alex put the jeans, boots, and flannel shirt into his trunk and pulled it down from the upper compartment.

"Leave your luggage on the train," the intercom said. "It will be taken to your dormitory."

Alex lifted the trunk and put it back into the compartment.

"…but remove it from the upper compartment," the intercom finished.

Alex looked at the guys annoyed. They laughed. Alex pulled the trunk back out of the compartment and set it on the floor. He also put his backpack, or "rucksack" as these Europeans called it, on top of the trunk.

Alex proceeded off of the train with the guys. He saw Hagrid at the front of the train.

"Firs' years," Hagrid yelled. "Come o'er here, please."

As the first years walked towards Hagrid, someone tripped in front of Alex. He bent down and caught the person. Upon seeing the girl's face, Alex thought she was gorgeous. While holding her, Alex noticed the girl stare him down. He helped her up.

"Thank you, so much," the girl said. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Alex Kent," Alex shook Hermione's hand.

Alex looked at Harry and Ron to see that Ron was blushing. Jake and Roger had already taken off with the crowd.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry greeted.

Hermione shrieked. "Are you really?"

Harry showed Hermione his scar.

"Wow, it's so good to meet you," Hermione said excited.

"I'm….uh…Ron…Ron Weasley," Ron tried to say clearly.

"Nice to meet you," Hermione said quickly walking on as though she didn't care.

Ron slumped his shoulders as though he had struck out. Alex caught up with Hermione and stood beside her as Hagrid addressed the first years.

"The returning students have a different route for goin' to the school. You all come with me," Hagrid said.

With that, they all proceeded toward the lake. When they arrived, Hagrid gave them instructions.

"No more than two to a boat. Understand," Hagrid said.

There were at least one hundred boats at the dock. Alex saw Hermione climb into a boat and he quickly jumped in with her. He saw Ron look a bit jealous as he and Harry got into the same boat. The first year student's boats began to move automatically out onto the lake.

"So, Hermione, where are you from, exactly?" Alex asked.

"I live on the outskirts of London in a small village," Hermione replied. "You?"

"I am actually from the United States," Alex replied. "I live in Kansas."

"Like Dorthy," Hermione added.

"Yeah, farm and all," Alex said.

"That would be nice," Hermione said. "My parents are dentists, so I don't exactly get a small town feel in life. I would really like that though."

"I love it," Alex said. "The strange thing is that most people there seem to hate it."

The boats went around a huge cliff and then the giant Hogwarts castle came into view. It was monstrous in size. Alex didn't know if he had ever seen a building this big.

As the boats drew closer, they prepared to enter the castle.

Alex walked with all the first years into the nearly three story tall door. Entering the door put them in the entrance hall. Hagrid proceeded into another big door to the right.

"Someone will be here to instruct yeh shortly," Hagrid said.

The doors closed and the students began to talk.

"Well, Hermione, do you like beans?" Ron asked in a dorky fashion.

Ron held up a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"Um, no thanks," Hermione said.

Alex watched Harry push Ron aside and say "Calm down. You are only making yourself look like a git."

_Git? Must be some kind of European term for idiot_Alex thought.

"Is it just me, or does Ron seem infatuated with me?" Hermione asked Alex in a whisper.

"Uh, I don't know. I haven't really noticed," Alex lied.

"He seems really awkward," Hermione said.

"He seemed fine on the train when Harry and I were with him," Alex defended.

The truth was, Alex found himself infatuated with Hermione, and he was actually feeling the same way Ron probably was, but he was just doing better at hiding it.

The door opened and a woman walked out. She was dressed in green and was wearing a pointed hat. She was probably in her fifties or sixties.

"Good evening," she said. "I am Professor McGonagall. Now, you are about to pass through these doors into the Great Hall and join the other students. The first thing you will do is be sorted into your houses. Your possibilities are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Your house will be like your family here at Hogwarts. Your triumphs will earn you points but if you break any rules, you will lose points. At the end of term, the house with the most house points is awarded the house cup. Now, we will proceed inside for the sorting ceremony."

McGonagall turned and pushed the doors opened. They stayed open as everyone walked into the Great Hall. It was a huge hall. Alex would have guessed that at least six of the Kent barns could have fit in here, and that was big barn.

The ceiling looked like a starry night. In fact, Alex wondered if there even was a ceiling.

"It's not really the ceiling. They bewitch it to look like the night sky," Hermione told Alex.

"Wow," Alex said.

They walked up to the front and all lined around a stool. The stool had an old, brown, pointed hat on it. Behind the stool was the staff table. Alex could guess that Dumbledore was the old man in the middle with the long white beard. Alex also saw Hagrid and Lupin at the table. Aside from that, he didn't recognize anyone at the table.  
>"Okay, as I call your name, come forth and I will place the sorting hat on your head. It will choose your house," McGonagall said grabbing the hat. "Hannah Abbott."<p>

A girl walked forward and the hat was placed on her head. Alex saw three slits open on the hat to look like a mouth and eyes. The hat talked.

"Hufflepuff," the hat said.

"Bart Allen."

A boy walked up that was shorter than Alex. He had spiked hair and a sort of dark smirk on his face.

"Slytherin."

As each person was sorted, they proceeded to the table of students in that house. Each time, that house would cheer for receiving a new student.

"Amanda Bloom."

A blonde haired girl walked to the front. Alex saw a couple of the guys in the group eye her as she walked up.

"Hufflepuff."

Susan Bones also went to Hufflepuff.

"Terry Boot."

"Ravenclaw."

"Amy Briggs."

Alex saw a blonde haired girl walk up that had been standing beside Jake.

"Slytherin."

"Mandy Brocklehurst."

"Ravenclaw."

"Lavender Brown."

"Gryffindor."

"So, what exactly do these houses mean?" Alex asked Hermione.

"Gryffindor is for brave people. Hufflepuff is for the people that give a helping hand. Ravenclaw is for the smart people. Slytherin is for the people with dark character," Hermione explained.

"Millicent Bulstrode."

"Slytherin."

"Vincent Crabbe."

"Slytherin."

"Roger Dawson."

Alex saw Roger walk up in the shy manner he had had on the train.

"Ravenclaw."

"Seamus Finnegan."

"Gryffindor."

"Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"Hufflepuff."

"Jonny Garcia."

Alex saw that Jonny was a skinny guy with emo hair hanging over his eyes. He almost looked a bit Korean.

"Slytherin."

"Gregory Goyle."

"Slytherin."

"Hermione Granger."

"Good luck," Alex encouraged.

Hermione seemed a bit nervous approaching the stool. She sat down on the stool.

"Hmm, this is difficult to decide. You are extremely intelligent but at the same time brave and strong. Gryffindor of Ravenclaw," the sorting hat debated. "How about…Gryffindor."

Hermione got up and walked to the Gryffindor table. As she walked past, Alex congratulated her with his eyes. Alex saw Ron looking sick to his stomach from infatuation.

"Alex Kent."

Alex walked slowly up to the stool and sat on it.

The hat was barely even placed on his head before it said "Gryffindor."

Alex's heart did a back flip. This meant that for seven years, he and Hermione were in the same house. He walked to the table and took a seat beside her.

* * *

><p>Harry stood in the remaining group of students waiting to be sorted. He watched as Alex take a seat next to Hermione.<p>

"Git," Ron said watching Alex.

"Jealous?" Harry laughed.

"Can't help it, mate," Ron said. "She's bloody hot."

Harry laughed.

"Neville Longbottom."

"Gryffindor."

"Draco Malfoy."

"Slytherin."

"There's no witch or wizard who ever went bad that wasn't in Slytherin," Ron told Harry.

Malfoy looked like a dark person.

"Declan McDonough."

"Gryffindor."

"Ernie McMillan."

"Hufflepuff."

"Doug Moore."

"Slytherin."

Doug got up from the stood and held his hands in the air as if he wanted the Slytherin table to praise him and they did. They made more noise than anyone had for any student yet. Harry and Ron looked at each other and laughed at how dumb it was.

"Josh Nichols."

"Ravenclaw."

"Theodore Nott."

"Slytherin."

"Harry Osborne."

"Slytherin."

"Drake Parker."

"Slytherin."

"Hillary Parker."

"Slytherin."

"Peter Parker."

"Think they are related?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. They don't resemble each other," Ron replied.

Peter sat down on the stool. Harry thought Peter looked rather nerdy. When the hat was placed on his head, his glasses were knocked off from the hats rim. The glasses hit the floor. The Slytherin table began to laugh.

Peter reached down to get his glasses and then sat back up after putting them on.

"Gryffindor."

Peter stood and walked to the Gryffindor table. Harry looked up at the staff table to see an evil looking man with black hair staring angrily at him.

"Ron, who is the dark looking teacher?" Harry asked.

"I'm guessing that is Snape," Ron replied. "Fred and George say he is a jerk."

Harry looked away when Snape did.

"Pansy Parkinson."

Ron smirked. "She's a pansy."

"Slytherin."

"Padma Patil."

"Ravenclaw."

"Parvati Patil."

"Gryffindor."

Padma and Parvati were twins. Harry thought for a moment, if they were in the P's on the list, then that meant…

"Harry Potter."

Harry looked around to see everyone whispering. Some of the staff rose in their seats and got interested in the sorting. Harry began to slowly walk toward the stool. He sat down on it to see every eye in the Great Hall upon him. He had never gotten this much attention from his aunt and uncle, so he definitely felt strange.

"Hmm, difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, not a bad mind either. There is talent and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you," the hat said.

"Not Slytherin," Harry said.

"Not Slytherin, are you sure? You would be great. It's all here in your head. Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness," the hat played devil's advocate.

Harry still begged to not be put in Slytherin.

"Well, if you are sure, better be Gryffindor."

The entire Gryffindor table burst into applause. Harry smiled and headed towards the table. When he arrived, a lot of people wanted to shake his hand. He turned back to see Albus Dumbledore raise his glass to him. Harry took a seat across from Alex and Hermione.

* * *

><p>"Andrea Stevens."<p>

"Hufflepuff."

"Victor Stone."

"Gryffindor."

Alex clapped for Victor as he took his seat.

"Charlie Tanner."

"Slytherin."

"DJ Tanner."

Alex watched DJ approach the stool. He assumed that Stephanie and Michelle would also get letters for Hogwarts and be here in a few years.

"Hufflepuff."

_I predicted Ravenclaw_ Alex thought.

"Jake Taylor."

Jake approached the stool and sat. Alex saw the hat go down on his head.

"Gryffindor."

Alex and the other Gryffindors clapped.

"Dean Thomas."

"Gryffindor."

"Kyle Trager."

"Gryffindor."

"Lori Trager."

"Hufflepuff."

"Lisa Turpin."

"Ravenclaw."

"Hazel Underwood."

The petite brunette approached the stool with a devilish smirk on her face.

"Slytherin."

"Mary Jane Watson."

"Ravenclaw."

There were only two people left standing in the front. Ron was there and a girl.

"Ronald Weasley."

Alex watched Ron walk up to the stool and sat down.

"Another Weasley. Gryffindor."

Ron came and sat beside Harry, directly across from Alex.

"Blaise Zabini."

"Slytherin."

After everyone was sorted, Dumbledore stood up.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Let the feast begin," Dumbledore said.

He held up his hands and the table was covered in food. He began to eat.

After the feast, the students were led by prefects to their dormitory. Each house had a different dormitory and only those students could get in. Gryffindors were led to the seventh floor to a portrait of a woman. Percy Weasley was Gryffindor's prefect.

"Hello fat lady," Percy said.

_That's rude_ Alex thought.

"Caput Draconis," Percy gave the password.

The portrait opened and everyone walked into the door.

"Welcome to the Gryffindor common room," Percy said. "Boys dormitories are upstairs and down to your left, girls on your right. All of your items are already here."

Percy went to the left and went down stairs to his dorm. The first years slowly began to file to the different sides. Alex turned to Hermione.

"Well, have a good night," Alex said.

"You too," Hermione smiled.

Alex walked to the information board. The rooms had been assigned. There had been eleven boys sorted into Gryffindor. They had divided the rooms six and five. Alex had been put into a room with Kyle Trager, Victor Stone, Peter Parker, Declan McDonough, and Jake Taylor.

When he arrived, Jake was the only person in the room.

"Looks like we are roommates," Jake said.

"Yeah, it's great," Alex replied.

Alex sat down on the bed in the center of the room that his belongings had been placed beside. He looked over to see Victor and Kyle enter the room.

"Men," Victor greeted. "How are you?"

"Great," Alex said.

"Pretty good," Jake said.

Behind Kyle, Peter and Declan walked into the room.

"Hey, Peter," Alex said. "That was totally inappropriate what Slytherin did earlier."

"It's okay," Peter said. "I've gotten used to it. I used to get picked on in elementary school."

"Sorry about that," Jake said.

Peter walked to the bed where his things were and took his glasses off. He set them on the nightstand and began to change into his night clothes.

Alex was glad to finally get to change out of the uniform, though they would have to put them back on the next day. He unbuttoned his dress shirt and changed into black sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

He laid down in bed but happened to notice Kyle to his right.

"You don't have a belly button," Alex said.

"Yeah, I am adopted. I don't know who my parents are," Kyle said. "If I did, I'd be able to explain why I don't have one."

Everyone settled into bed and Alex quickly dozed off.


	8. Chapter 8: The Shard

Chapter 8

The Shard

By 7:30, Alex was in his uniform, this time with a scarlet and gold striped tie which he liked better than the black one. He proceeded into the common room to find Hermione sitting at one of the tables. He sat down beside her.

"How are you this morning?" Alex asked.

"I'm great, Alex," Hermione said enthusiastically.

"Did you sleep well?" Alex asked.

"Wonderfully,' Hermione said. "I'm so excited for class."

Alex looked over to see Harry and Ron walk down the stairs and enter the common room. Ron took a look at Alex and Hermione and a jealous look grew on his face. He and Harry proceeded out of the common room.

"We'd better get to class," Alex looked at his watch.

Alex and Hermione stood and headed out of the common room.

Alex and Hermione entered right behind Harry and Ron into the third floor Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. As they walked in, Alex saw Lupin at the front of the class. Harry and Ron sat at the desk in the front of the class and Alex and Hermione took the desk next to them.

"Good morning there, Alex," Lupin said.

"Professor Lupin, how are you?" Alex asked.

"Great," Lupin said. "Everyone, I'll be right back and we will begin."

Lupin walked into his office and the door shut.

"How does he know your name?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't know where to buy my Hogwarts supplies and he came and showed me how to get to Diagon Alley," Alex recounted.

Lupin walked back into the classroom. "Today, I am going to teach you a basic spell that you will be able to use for various things. The spell is _Flipendo_. I am going to call you up one at a time to practice it. You first, Mr. Potter."

Harry got up and walked to the front of the class.

"Okay, Harry, you will be using the spell on that target," Lupin pointed to a target in the front of the class.

Harry held up his wand. "_Flipendo_."

A blast of red came out of his wand and hit the target.

"Excellent," Lupin said. "You next, Alex."

Alex took Harry's place in the front. He held up his faith powered wand and flicked it, without saying anything. The wand did exactly what Alex needed. A red blast flew from it and hit the target.

"Splendid," Lupin said. "You didn't even have to say it."

Alex had finished class for the day and he took his backpack to the dorm. When he arrived, the room was empty. The other five were either still at lunch or out somewhere. Alex threw his bag on to the bed and looked out the window across the Hogwarts grounds. It was a beautiful view out across the mountain range.

As he looked, he saw something glowing down near the greenhouses. It wasn't like the sun was shining on a mirror. Rather, it was a glowing object.

"Nice view," Victor said, appearing beside Alex.

"Victor, do you see that down there?" Alex asked.

"What, the Quidditch pitch?" Victor asked.

"No, that glowing thing," Alex pointed.

"There is nothing glowing down there," Victor said.

Alex turned and walked to the door. "You have a good day, Victor."

Alex walked out of the dorm and super sped out of the castle. He arrived at the glowing spot he had been looking at. He bent down and picked up the glowing object. When he picked it up, it stopped glowing.

As Alex examined the object, he saw that it was not fully whatever it was. It was a shard of stone that looked as though it had broken off of something else. There were a couple of symbols on it that Alex didn't recognize. He was curious as to what the symbols meant and what it had been part of.

"Oy," Alex heard from behind him.

Alex turned to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione at Hagrid's Hut.

"Hello there, Alex," Hagrid said.

Alex dropped the shard in his pocket so that they wouldn't know that he had it. He approached them.

"Come on in, you four," Hagrid said. "I just made a pot o' tea."

Alex sat at the table as did Hagrid. Harry was seated on a recliner and Ron and Hermione on the couch.

_Does she still think he is weird?_ Alex thought.

Alex sipped the tea Hagrid had offered. It was actually rather good.

"So, how was yer first day?" asked Hagrid.

"Definitely interesting," Harry said.

"Exciting," Hermione said.

"Wicked," Ron said.

"Who all did yeh have today?" Hagrid asked.

"Lupin, McGonagall, and Sprout," Alex said.

"What's goin' on out there?" Hagrid asked looking out the window.

Alex and the others stood and looked out the window. Alex saw Draco Malfoy and a couple of other Slytherins harassing another student.

"Harrassment," Hermione said.

"Is that Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"That git," Ron said.

"Let's go," Alex said.

He headed out the door and up to the confrontation with Harry, Ron, and Hermione following. When they arrived, Alex realized that it was Peter that they were harassing. Peter's glasses were laying on the ground broken.

"Lay off, Malfoy," Harry said.

"Oh, hey there, Potter," Malfoy said. "Come to defend a mudblood?"

"A what?" Harry asked.

"But then, why would you?" Malfoy asked. "After all, you are friends with a couple of mudbloods right there with you."

Malfoy pointed to Alex and Hermione. Alex watched Hermione get an insulted look on her face. She covered her face and began to cry. Harry began to comfort her. Alex turned to Malfoy.

"You git," Ron said pulling out his wand.

Draco's two friends, Crabbe and Goyle, emerged from behind him. They stepped in front of him.

"Well, Ron," Alex said. "Looks like he is a coward too."

Crabbe and Goyle pulled out their wands and prepared to attacked.

"_Flipendo_," both of them said casting at Alex and Ron.

Ron jumped out of the way of Crabbe's blast. Alex held up his wand and used his wand to create a shield. Goyle's spell hit it bounced back on him. Goyle let out a cry as if he had been stung and fell on to his butt on the ground. Malfoy walked around Crabbe and raised his wand.

"Kent, you mudblood," Malfoy said.

"You know, Malfoy," Alex said. "That insult might actually offend me if I knew what it meant."

"_Incendio_," Malfoy cast at Ron.

Ron's robe lit fire and he began to scream. Alex sent a red blast at both Malfoy and Crabbe and they both fell down. He then turned to Ron and blasted water from his wand. Ron went from being on fire to wet. The fire was out though.

"Well, Weasley, looks like your hand-me-down robes can't be handed down anymore," Malfoy insulted.

"You have a lot of gut insulting him considering I just knocked you all down," Alex said.

Alex held up his wand and used it to take the burns away from Ron's robe and re-stitch it. When Alex was done, Ron's robe looked like it was brand new, out of the shop.

"That's bloody brilliant," Ron said. "How did you learn to do all this?"

"Uh…reading," Alex lied.

Harry and Hermione were now standing behind Ron. Hermione's eyes were red from the crying. Alex still didn't know what a mudblood was.

Malfoy stood up and raised his wand. Ron aimed his wand at him.

"_Flipendo_," he cast.

Malfoy fell down and his wand fell from his hand. As Ron held up his wand, it suddenly flew from his hand. Alex looked over to see Snape descending the hill from the castle.

"What are you doing, Weasley?" Snape asked holding his wand in Ron's face.

"Malfoy here was attacking us," Ron defended.

"No, Professor, they were attacking me, Crabbe, and Goyle," Malfoy lied. "All five of them."

Alex had almost forgotten that Peter was even there.

"They all five cast spells at us," Malfoy said. "We were just minding our business."

"No, he's lying," Hermione said.

"Give me your wands," Snape said holding out his wand.

The five of them refused.

"Give me your wands," Snape repeated in an angrier tone.

Ron handed his wand over. Harry and Hermione followed. Peter then did so. Alex didn't. He knew that he couldn't give Snape his wand. No one could use his wand because they would discover that it was not a wizard's wand.

"Kent," Snape said.

"I don't have mine," Alex said.

"He just cast a spell at us," Malfoy said. "Of course he has it."

"I don't," Alex said.

"Pull out your pockets," Snape said.

Alex pulled out the pockets on his robe and out came the shard of rock he had found. His wand, however, was not there.

"What is this?" Snape asked.

"A rock," Alex said.

"What do these symbols mean?" Snape held it up.

"I don't know," Alex said. "I just found it."

"All five of you are going to Professor McGonagall," Snape said. "She can deal with your harassment. Follow me."

Alex brought up the end of the line as the six of them walked up to the castle. He really didn't know where his wand had gone. He trusted that its more than magical self had hidden itself somehow.

Alex, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Peter now sat outside of McGonagall's office. Snape was inside talking to McGonagall. Alex still didn't have his wand. He had also lost whatever that shard of rock had been.

"Can I ask you guys a question?" Alex asked.

"Shoot," Harry said.

"What is a mudblood?" Alex asked.

"I don't know exactly," Harry said.

"Mudblood is a slang term for someone Muggleborn like Peter, you, and I," Hermione explained. "It means dirty blood."

"Dad has always told me that Malfoy's family are all purebloods and they act like they are better than everyone else," Ron added.

"Wow," Alex said. "There is even racism in the wizarding world."

"Well, thanks for sticking up for me out there," Peter thanked.

"Can you see okay?" Harry asked.

"Not the best. They broke my glasses," Peter said.

"Whoa, what is that?" Hermione asked seeing Peter's hand.

Alex saw a giant purple sore on Peter's hand.

"I don't know, honestly," Peter said. "Goyle shoved me to the ground and my hand hit something. That has been there since."

"You need to get that checked out," Harry said.

The door opened and Snape walked out. "She is ready for you."

Snape stormed off. The five of them stood up and entered.

"What do you five think you were doing?" McGonagall asked before they were even completely in. "Attacking Mr. Malfoy like that. As head of Gryffindor house, it disgraces me and the house for its students to have this kind of behavior."

"Wait, Professor, we weren't attacking Malfoy," Alex said.

"He attacked us," Ron added.

"Professor Snape has told me that he saw you attack them and that Draco said all five of you took part," McGonagall said.

"Malfoy is lying through his teeth," Harry said.

"Us four were at Hagrid's hut when we saw Malfoy harassing Peter, so we came to stop him," Hermione defended.

The door busted open and Hagrid walked in. "Professor, it wasn't them. I saw the whole thing m'self. Malfoy attacked 'em."

"You saw Draco attack these students?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Hagrid said. "We were haven' a cup o' tea and we saw Malfoy harassing this one." Hagrid pointed to Peter.

"Thank you, Hagrid," McGonagall said. "You four can have your wands back and I apologize for this misunderstanding. I will make sure the appropriate punishment is given to Mr. Malfoy."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Peter took their wands and the five of them left. They all headed back to the Gryffindor common room. Upon entering, Peter immediately headed to the dormitory. Alex said goodbye to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who stayed in the common room. Alex headed to the room himself. When he arrived, he saw his wand sitting on his bed. He walked up, took it, and put it in his pocket.

He turned to see Jake in the room.

"How is it going, man?" Alex asked.

"Great," Jake said.

At that moment, Alex saw Peter pass out on to the floor.


	9. Chapter 9: The Halloween Duel

Chapter 9

The Halloween Duel

Alex now stood in the hospital wing with Jake, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Peter was in the bed they were all hovering around.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Peter passed out," Alex said.

"That's it," Jake added.

"Guys, think about the bump on his hand," Hermione brought to their attention.

"Do you think that has something to do with it?" Alex asked.

"Out of the way, please," a voice came from behind them.

They parted like the red sea as Madam Pomfrey walked through. Dumbledore and McGonagall were with her.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.

"He walked into the dorm and just passed out on the floor," Jake said.

"Professor, there is some kind of wound on his right hand," Harry pointed out.

Madam Pomfrey took a look at Peter's hand.

"That is a spider bite," Madam Pomfrey said.

"Can you heal it?" Hermione asked.

"That depends," Madam Pomfrey said. "How long has it been since he received this bite?"

"About an hour ago," Ron said. "Malfoy was harassing him and shoved him to the ground. Peter told us he has had the bump since."

"There must have been a spider on the ground that bit him," McGonagall speculated. "He was probably distracted by Malfoy to know."

"Blimey, despite Malfoy's ugly appearance, I think I'd know if a bloody spider bit me," Ron said.

"With the bite having been an hour ago, can you help him?" Alex asked.

"Not instantly," Madam Pomfrey said. "However, I can give him something that will help him slowly. I am basically going to have to kill the venom and this will take a bit."

"How long?" Harry asked.

"I'd say a couple of weeks at the least," Madam Pomfrey said.

"Okay, guys, let's let her get to work," Alex said. "Come on."

They left the hospital wing.

Snape's class had been the following day of the confrontation with Malfoy. Snape seemed to be angry that McGonagall didn't take action on the five of them. It was as if Snape seemed to hate them. He had more of a hatred for Harry than any of them. During class, Snape had practically made Harry look like a fool. During the middle of his lecture, Snape just randomly turned to Harry and started asking him questions.

"Tell me, Potter. What is Dittany?" Snape asked.

Hermione's hand shot up.

"I don't know," Harry said. "Perhaps a girl's name, sir."

"Incorrect," Snape said. "Let's try again. What potion can make a person live forever?"

Hermione's hand shot up.

_The Blood of Jesus_ Alex jokingly referenced the Bible in his head.

"I don't know, sir," Harry said.

"It seems that fame doesn't bring knowledge, does it?" Snape asked.

"Well, clearly it…." Harry started.

Alex stopped him from talking. Harry humbly accepted it and bit his tongue.

Friday arrived and it was time for flying lessons. The Gryffindors and Slytherins were in class together. They all stood in the Hogwarts courtyard, each next to a broom. Madam Hooch came walking up.

"Welcome, to your first flying lesson," she said. "Now, each of you step up the left side of your broomstick."

Alex walked up to the side of the broom.

"Stick your right hand over the broom and say up."

As Alex wasn't really magical, he had no idea what he was going to do here. He held out his hand.

"Up," Alex said.

The broom just sat there. Alex tried again but still nothing. As Alex looked around, all of the other students were getting their brooms up to them. Alex couldn't get it to magically come up to him, so he quickly went in so fast of super speed that no one would notice and picked it up.

"Now, the first thing you are going to do is hover into the air a bit. After you have hovered, feel free to take off into the air and fly around the grounds a bit," Madam Hooch said.

Everyone mounted their brooms and Alex saw various people take off. Alex looked around and kicked off from the ground. The broom rose into the air and hovered. He then saw various students begin flying through the grounds. As he hovered, he saw someone flying through the air that wasn't on a broom.

This person didn't seem to be flying as much as swinging. Alex noticed ropes coming from his hands. It was almost as though it was fishing line he was using. Whenever he let go of the rope, he sent out another. Alex took off on his broom toward the person.

As he neared, the person landed on top of a lower part of the castle. Alex couldn't tell who it was for they had their hood up. The person jumped off the roof and into the valley below the bridge of Hogwarts. Alex lost sight of him.

After class, Alex went by the hospital wing to see how Peter was doing. When he arrived, all the beds in the hospital wing were empty.

"Madam Pomfrey," Alex called out.

She came around the corner. "Yes, dear."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I was just wondering how Peter is doing," Alex stated.

"Oh, Peter Parker," Madam Pomfrey said. "I released him. He woke up this morning feeling fine. The bite is gone. My potion must have cured him faster than I thought."

"Really," Alex said surprised. "Thank you."

Alex left the hospital wing and proceeded up to the common room. He entered to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione seated on the couch in front of the fireplace. He approached them.

"Did you guys know that Peter…" Alex started.

"Shh," Ron spat. "I've got to learn these potion terms or Snape's test Tuesday will be the end of me."

"Ron, its Friday," Alex pointed out.

"Yeah, if I don't start trying to learn them now, I won't have enough time."

"What about Peter?" Hermione asked.

"He's out of the hospital," Alex informed.

"What?" Harry said. "I thought Madam Pomfrey said it would take a while."

"Hey guys," a voice came from behind Alex.

Alex turned to see Peter standing there. Peter wasn't wearing his glasses. He was dressed in a gray t-shirt and jeans. He looked more enthusiastic than Alex had ever seen.

"Are you feeling okay?" Hermione asked.

"Actually, I've never felt better," Peter said.

"Can you see okay?" Alex asked.

"Um, contacts," Peter replied.

"Alex, I need to talk to you," Jake said running into the common room.

Alex walked over to him. "Good to see you doing okay, Peter."

Jake ushered Alex outside the common room. They stood in the corridors.

"What's going on?" Alex asked.

"I know that you are a Christian and I need your help," Jake said.

"How do you know that I am a Christian?" Alex asked.

"I saw your Bible the other day," Jake said. "Listen, I know of a student here that I need your help with. I'm a Christian too."

"You are a Christian too?" Alex said surprised.

"Yes," Jake replied. "And I can tell that you aren't one of the bigoted, legalistic Christians that cause problems. You want to actually help people and love them rather than just cramming theology down people's throat."

"What's going on with this student?" Alex asked.

"Well, he is depressed," Jake said. "People are constantly picking on him. I think he is cutting himself."

Surprise grew on Alex's face. He had never dealt with anything like this before but he knew he needed to help. Aside from being a superhero, he wanted to be a hero on a personal level of helping inspire people out of darkness.

"Where is this student?" Alex asked.

Alex and Jake entered the Great Hall. Jake pointed out the Slytherin student, Jonny Garcia, sitting at the end of a table alone. He was slumped down, doodling on a piece of parchment.

Alex and Jake looked at each other. They walked to the table and sat across from him.

"Hey," Alex said.

Jonny looked up, a little confused. His emo hair was hanging over his eyes.

"Uh, hey," Jonny said, quietly.

"Do you care if we eat dinner with you?" Alex asked.

"It's okay," Jonny said.

"I'm Jake Taylor," Jake said.

"Alex Kent," Alex introduced.

"Jonny Garcia," Jonny said.

"We just wanted to say hi and introduce ourselves," Alex said as he and Jake put food on their plate. "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm okay," Jonny said.

Weeks passed, bringing in the fall season. Harry had been made seeker on Gryffindor's Quidditch team after he had caught Neville Longbottom's rememberall after Malfoy had thrown it during broom flight. Despite Alex backing off, Hermione's attraction for him continued to grow and they were on the verge of being a couple. Alex hadn't seen any more signs of the person swinging in the courtyard. Alex had also seen no sign of the shard that he was desperate to know the meaning of.

Alex, Jake, and Jonny had become pretty good friends and the three of them, along with about ten others typically had lunch together every day in the Great Hall.

It was now Halloween night and Alex was on his way to the Great Hall with Jake, Peter, and Victor.

As they entered the Entrance Hall, Alex saw a man in a hooded cloak about to enter the Great Hall. The man pulled out a wand and prepared to blast the door with a spell. Alex immediately pulled out his wand and blasted a red blast from his wand. The blast flew in front of the man. He turned and looked at Alex.

The man aimed the wand at Alex. "_Avada Kedavra_."

A green blast shot from the wand and hit Alex. He flew back on to the staircase. The blast had actually hurt him. He felt immobile as he lay on the staircase. His energy had been drained as he lay there. Alex heard the Great Hall door bust open. Then he heard a whooshing sound. He worked up enough strength to look up and see the hooded figure sending spells at Dumbledore, Lupin, and Snape, who were all in the Entrance Hall. They had broken into a wizard's duel.

Gaining his strength back, Alex leapt to his feet and joined the battle. He was throwing out red blasts at the masked man. Lupin joined him on the man's left while Dumbledore and Snape were on the right. The students were all at the door of the Great Hall trying to see.

The hooded figure was outnumbered and he seemed to know it. He sent a spell at Snape and Snape fell to his knees. The man shot red blasts at Lupin and Dumbledore, disarming both of them.

"_Avada Kedavra_," the man screamed.

His wand was aimed at Snape, who was unarmed on the ground. Alex knew that if that spell had made himself temporarily paralyzed, it would be way worse for a human. He aimed his wand and blasted a shield in front of the green spell that came from the hooded figure. Snape was saved.

Alex blasted a powerful blue blast from his wand. The hooded figure was hit and he fell back. Dumbledore and Lupin began to approach him but he turned into a black cloud and flew out of the castle. Alex walked up beside them.

"Excellent job protecting Professor Snape like that, Alex," Dumbledore said.

"Worthy of 25 points to Gryffindor," Lupin said.

Alex held out his hand to Snape. Snape grabbed it and pulled himself up.

"Thank you, Kent," Snape said.

With that, Snape turned and walked toward the dungeons. Alex couldn't even believe that Snape had said thank you.

"Okay, students return to your common rooms," Dumbledore addressed.

Alex watched students begin to file out of the Great Hall. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exited, Ron with a plate of food.

"We didn't even get to eat," Victor said.

Alex took off up the stairs. He was unsure who the hooded figure was but it was someone dangerous. Who had he been after? He was obviously wanting to kill someone in the Great Hall. Dumbledore? Harry? All of the students? Alex didn't know.

He arrived at the portrait and made his way into the common room. When he arrived inside, a huge headache hit him suddenly, one of the worst he had ever felt. Suddenly, it went away and his vision changed. He wasn't seeing a clear picture anymore; he was seeing an x-ray.


	10. Chapter 10: X Ray Vision

Chapter 10

X-Ray Vision

Alex stood looking at the blue x-ray of the people in the common room. He had no idea what was going on with this vision and he didn't know how to control it. A hand touched his shoulder and the vision shut off, back to normal vision.

"What are you staring at?" Jake asked grabbing his shoulder.

Alex saw Jake with Victor and Peter. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked in behind them.

"Uh, daydreaming," Alex said.

Alex took off up the stairs to the dorm.

The next Saturday was the first Quidditch match of the season. The game was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Alex was curious to see what the game consisted of, as he had not learned the basics of the game. He had played Basketball in middle school and Clark had played Football in senior year. Those were the two sports Alex was in to.

Before the game, Alex went to Lupin's office. Lupin was sitting at his desk grading papers.

"Professor Lupin, can I ask you a question?" Alex asked.

"Of course, Alex," Lupin said.

"Well, the attacker on Halloween used a spell that I have never heard before. I was wondering what it is," Alex explained. "The spell was _Avada Kedavra_."

"I saw him use that too. What you must understand is that if I tell you what this spell does, you can't tell other people. I trust you to not use it because I have noticd something different in you from all the other students," Lupin began.

"I understand," Alex said.

"That spell is one of the three unforgiveable curses. It is the worst. The first of the three is the Imperius Curse which can be used to control a person. The second is Cruciatus Curse which is the torture curse. Finally, the one that was used by that man the killing curse. If you hadn't put the shield in front of Snape that night, he would not be alive today," Lupin explained.

It made sense to Alex why that that curse would be one that could kill you. It had paralyzed him. Alex remembered in Clark's senior year, a witch had attacked Smallville and her magic had been able to hurt Clark. Alex was guessing that magic hurt him to a less extent than the actual spell did to a human, but it still affected him.

After speaking with Lupin, Alex made his way to the Quidditch pitch. When he arrived, the game had already started. He saw red and green robed people flying around on brooms. He made his way into the stands that many of the first year Gryffindors were seated in.

"Hey man, you finally made it," Jake greeted.

"Where is Harry?" Alex asked.

"He is up there," Hermione pointed up to a person who was sitting in the air on their broom.

Harry was just sitting there.

"Why isn't he moving?" Alex asked.

"Harry's job is to catch the golden snitch, which is a little golden ball flying around the field. He is sitting there waiting for when he sees it. It's actually a good strategy," Ron explained.

As Alex sat, he saw some of the players fly and grab a red ball and toss it through a goal post.

"Gryffindor scores," the announcer cheered. "That puts them in the lead forty-thirty."

"What score do they play to?" Alex asked.

"Until Harry or the Slytherin seeker catches the snitch," Ron said. "That ends the game."

As Alex watched the game, the score got up to Slytherin in the lead one hundred-seventy. Harry had spotted the snitch and taken off after it. As he flew, Alex suddenly saw a green blast come from the field.

_The killing curse_ he thought.

The spell flew just past Harry as he swerved. The spell had damaged the roof of one of the towers around the field. Everyone ran forward to see who was on the field casting spells. Alex super sped down into the locker rooms of the pitch while no one was looking. He approached the exit to the field and saw a silhouette of a hooded figure on the field with a wand out. The man picked up the broom beside him and took off into the air.

Alex grabbed a broom out of the locker room and headed to the field.

He jumped on the broom and ascended out of the locker room. He flew into the air of the Quidditch pitch. The hooded figure was back. The man that had attacked Hogwarts on Halloween was on a broom in pursuit of Harry. Alex held the broom with his left hand and drew his wand with the right. He chased the hooded figure through the air. As the figure threw killing curses at Harry, Alex blocked them with his own protective shields. As the battle ensued, Alex saw Dumbledore begin to cast spells from his stands at the man, however, after a player was nearly hit by the spell, Dumbledore stopped.

Alex aimed his wand and shot a blast at the man's broom. The broom was hit and swerved off course out of the pitch. Alex began to chase after him as they flew away from the Quidditch pitch. They flew over the forbidden forest and the man then dove into the forest on his broom. Alex flew down into the trees chasing him. They flew through, dodging every obstacle that they encountered. Alex was throwing red blasts from his wand at the man, but wasn't making contact.

Then something hit Alex. His head began to hurt very badly just like it had a week ago with his vision. As he flew, he held his head. His wand fell from his hand into the forest. He continued to pursue the hooded figure as he flew, but then his vision suddenly went to x-ray again. He could barely make anything out other than the skeleton of the man. He tried to continue flying with his vision like this, but not being able to recognize the forest, he crashed into a tree. The broom split in two and the tree collapsed on top of Alex as he fell unconscious in the woods.

Alex awoke at night. He sat up to see that he was covered in dirt. He tossed the tree off of him and stood up. After super speeding through the forest and finding his wand, he made a decision. In Clark's freshman year of high school, he had developed x-ray vision. Considering he was the same age as Clark was when it happened, it was likely he was developing it as well.

Alex took off running at a fast enough super speed that he could go across the ocean. He ran towards Smallville. When he arrived, it was the afternoon. Jonathan was under the tractor working.

"Dad," Alex called.

Jonathan crawled out from under the tractor and looked at him.

"Alex, what are you doing out here?"

"Remember back when Clark started developing x-ray vision? That is what is happening to me. I need help learning to control it."

Jonathan laughed. "I forgot that now that the powers have been passed on, you would be going through the same super power puberty that Clark did."

"How did Clark learn to control it?" Alex asked.

"He just tried really hard and focused and it finally started working," Jonathan said. "Here, come with me."

Jonathan took Alex into the barn and pulled out a metal box from the bottom of the tool chest.

"Okay, I want you to focus on seeing through this box and tell me what is inside," Jonathan said holding the box.

Alex began to squint and strain, but nothing happened. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Relax. Take a deep breath. Don't strain. Just simply see through the box," Jonathan instructed.

Alex breathed and looked at the box. As he looked, suddenly, the side of the box opened up and he saw an old watch inside it.

"That's grandpa's watch," Alex said.

Jonathan opened the box and the watch was there.

"It worked," Jonathan smiled.

"But Dad, that time it was see through. Before, it has been x-ray," Alex said.

"You were trying to see through. Try to x-ray it," Jonathan said.

Alex looked at the box and his vision turned into a blue x-ray and he x-rayed the box to see an outline of the watch.

"It works," Alex smiled.

Alex had come back to Hogwarts and was now walking to the common room. When he arrived, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were there. When Alex walked in, Hermione ran up and bear hugged him.

"You are alright," Hermione was thankful.

"Yeah," Alex said.

"What happened, mate?" Ron asked.

"I chased him into the forest and crashed," Alex recounted.

"Blimey," Ron said. "Did you see who he was?"

"No, I didn't catch him," Alex said. "Did Gryffindor win?"

"Yes, I caught the snitch," Harry replied.


	11. Chapter 11: Under the Hood

Chapter 11

Under the Hood

December had arrived. The school was decorated in Christmas decorations. A giant Christmas tree had been brought in by Hagrid for the Great Hall. Classes had ended for the semester. Students would be heading home the following day for the Christmas season.

Alex and Hermione sat in the Great Hall eating dinner. The whole time, Alex couldn't stop thinking about how much he wanted to ask her out. Something was keeping him from doing it though. Perhaps his not wanting to hurt Ron. Alex and Ron had actually become good friends. He couldn't resist.

"Hermione, there is something we need to talk about," Alex began.

"Okay," Hermione said putting down her fork.

"Well, over the course of the term, we have grown…um…closer," Alex said nervously. "I just feel like maybe it is time for us to move to the next level. What are your thoughts on it?"

She smiled. "I've been waiting for you to ask me this for weeks now."

"There is just one thing I am worried about. Ron has feelings for you. I don't want to damage things with him by dating you," Alex said.

"Look, I talked to Ron a while ago," Hermione said. "I told him that I had feelings for you and that I still wanted to be good friends with him. He has kind of let his feelings for me go. That's why you two have become good friends. He has lost that grudge he had against you."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Alex asked.

"I wanted you to take the initiative and ask me out," Hermione said. "It is proper."

"Right," Alex said.

Alex reached across the table and grabbed Hermione's hand and held it.

After dinner, Alex and Hermione headed to Hagrid's hut to meet Harry and Ron. They walked side-by-side down the hill while holding hands. When they arrived at the hut, Alex looked over to see a cloaked figure lurking at the edge of the forest.

"Go on in," Alex told Hermione. "I just remembered that I….was supposed to meet Peter in the Entrance Hall to give him something. I'll be right back."

"Okay," Hermione said.

She walked into Hagrid's hut and Alex looked down at the person.

"Hey," Alex called.

He took off running toward the man. As he ran, the man took off into the forest. Alex super sped into the forest. He ran in front of the man and held his wand at him. The man pulled his wand on Alex. The two stood looking at each other with their wands drawn. Alex x-rayed the man's hood to see what he looked like.

The man was in his mid-twenties with brown hair and brown eyes. He was Caucasian and clean shaven.

"Who are you?" Alex asked.

"I am the most loyal servant the Dark Lord has ever known," the man said.

"What do you want?" Alex asked.

"Two things, the tablet and Harry Potter dead," he said.

"What tablet?" Alex asked.

"The tablet that contains the information that Lord Voldemort needs," the man said.

"I thought Voldemort was dead," Alex questioned.

"Not for much longer," the man said. "When Potter is dead and the tablet is in my hands, he will be unstoppable."

"I won't let that happen," Alex said.

"_Avada Kedavra_," the man said.

A green blast flew at Alex but he blocked it with a shield. Alex flicked his wand and a red blast hit the man. Alex blocked two more killing curses from the man and then sent out a powerful blast of purple energy which knocked the man into a tree. His wand fell onto the ground. Alex blasted a yellow blast at the man's wand which split it in half.

The man's hood was now off.

"Listen here, you'd better back off," Alex said. "You aren't going to have the chance to kill Harry."

Alex created chains with his wand and prepared to tie the man up until he could get Dumbledore. However, he was hit by a dark blast as the man flew off in a black cloud. Alex had fallen to the ground. He stood up and picked up the two pieces of the man's split wand.

He then super sped to the hut. He busted open the door.

"I just saw him," Alex said closing the door.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"The man that tried to kill you in the Quidditch match," Alex answered.

"Where was he?" Ron asked.

"Outside the forest," Alex said. "I caught up to him and dueled him."

"What?" Hermione asked. "Are you insane? You could have been killed."

Hermione hugged Alex as if she was afraid to lose him.

"Hermione, look, I'm fine," Alex said walking to the table.

He held up the broken wand. "I destroyed his wand. He will have to get a new one before he can fight us again."

"How did yer win a battle with a dark wizard like that?" Hagrid asked. "Yer only a firs' year."

"He is kind of a pathetic really," Alex lied.

"What did he want?" Hermione asked.

"He said he wanted the tablet and to kill Harry," Alex answered.

"The tablet?" Harry asked.

"I don't know what it is. He said that it held the information that Voldemort needed," Alex said.

Ron flinched at Alex's mention of Voldemort.

"Information," Harry said. "What could that mean?"

"Perhaps a way to resurrect," Hermione theorized.

"I don't know, but we need to find out," Alex said. "The man said that he was Voldemort's most loyal follower and that finding the tablet and killing Harry guaranteed that Voldemort would be unstoppable."

"Sounds like we need to find that tablet," Ron said.

Alex had a suspicion that the shard Snape had taken from him had something to do with the tablet. He knew he had to get it to find out for sure.

He and Jake stood in the Entrance Hall.

"This is insane," Jake said.

"Look, I know this will be difficult," Alex said. "Snape will be in his office, but if we don't get this item, it could mean death and destruction."

They proceeded down into the dungeons and got outside Snape's office door. Alex x-rayed the office to see Snape inside studying.

"Snape is still awake," Alex said.

"How do you know that?" Jake asked.

"Um, it's a hunch," Alex lied. "You know, it's not even ten o'clock yet."

"So, what do we do?" Jake asked.

Jake hid behind a bench in the dungeons. Alex knocked on Snape's office door and then hid in the shadows. The door opened and Snape looked out to see no one there. He then stepped out into the corridor. Alex held up his wand and sent an orange blast at Snape to knock him unconscious. Snape fell on to the ground.

Alex and Jake proceeded into the office. They looked around. Alex began to x-ray around to try and find the shard. However, he didn't find anything.

"It's not here," Alex said.

"Another hunch?" Jake asked.

"Sure," Alex said. "Come on."

Alex and Jake stepped over Snape and took off into the Entrance Hall. As they headed up the stairs, they turned the corner and ran into a nightmare. Argus Filch, the caretaker, was standing there looking them in the face. Fear struck their face.

"Oh dear, we are in trouble," Filch said.

Alex and Jake stood in McGonagall's office. Snape had been alerted and he had assumed that they were the ones who had knocked him unconscious. Filch had brought them to McGonagall after catching them. The three were in the office interrogating Alex and Jake.

"What reason do you two have to sneak about the corridors at this hour?" McGonagall sternly asked.

"We, uh, couldn't sleep," Alex lied.

"You couldn't sleep, so you decided to walk throughout the castle," McGonagall questioned.

"Pretty much," Alex said.

Alex held his wand in his pocket and flicked it.

_Go to the dorm. Take Jake's wand with you_ Alex told the wand in his mind.

The wand vanished from his pocket.

"Why on earth did you stun Professor Snape?" McGonagall asked.

"I didn't," Alex lied.

"You are two students out in the middle of the night and I am pranked. You had to have been the ones," Snape asserted.

"Well, now that I think about it, it could have been the Weasley twins. You know their jokes," McGonagall reasoned.

"Professor, even if I wanted to stun Professor Snape tonight, I couldn't. First of all, neither of us have our wands and even if we did, we are half way through our first year. We aren't nearly smart enough in magic to stun a fully trained wizard like you," Alex said pointing at Snape.

"An obvious excuse," Snape said.

"Check our pockets," Alex said. "We don't have our wands. Jake, you left yours at the dorm, didn't you?"

Jake reached in his pocket. "Yep."

"Even if you did, you were still out of bed after hours," McGonagall said.

"Oh come on, quit yappin' and give 'em detention," Filch said.

"They do not have detention," McGonagall said. "There is no evidence that they attacked Severus. However, fifteen points will be taken from Gryffindor each. Now, go back to your common room."

Alex and Jake left the room as Snape looked angrily at them. They began to go up the stairs.

"How did our wands vanish?" Jake asked.

"Some tricks are better left secret," Alex said.

"Well, I don't understand," Jake said. "You say Snape has something of yours but it wasn't in his office. Where could it be?"

"I don't know," Alex answered. "Perhaps his Gringotts vault. Maybe at his home. Could be anywhere."

Alex knew that he had to get the shard back. It was probably part of the tablet Voldemort was looking for. In order to prevent Voldemort's return, Alex would need to destroy the tablet.


	12. Chapter 12: The Hole in the Wall

Chapter 12

The Hole in the Wall

Alex exited the train with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jake. They were back in London. Harry and Ron walked over and joined the Weasleys. Harry was staying at their house over Christmas break. Alex watched Jake and Hermione point out their families to him.

Hermione turned and kissed Alex. After she pulled away and took off to her parents, Alex felt as though he were on drugs and didn't have his fix yet. That had been he and Hermione's first kiss.

Jake smiled. "She's a good one, man. Hold on to her."

Alex and Jake began to walk toward the Taylors.

"Whatever happened to your girlfriend?" Alex asked. "I saw you holding hands with Amy Briggs at the sorting ceremony."

"It's complicated," Jake said. "She is dating Doug Moore now."

"Sorry," Alex said.

Jake joined his own parents and they left the train station.

Alex super sped to Smallville. When he arrived, it was still very early in the morning. He entered the house and realized that Jonathan and Martha were still asleep. He set his backpack down and super sped around the kitchen. Within thirty seconds, the stove was cooking with breakfast food. He super sped to the coffee maker and had coffee making.

In ten minutes, the table was covered in breakfast food. Alex grabbed a bell and began to ring it as loud as he could. He continued to do so until Jonathan and Martha came walking into the kitchen.

"Alex, what the…" Jonathan started until he saw the breakfast food.

"Sweetheart, you didn't have to do this," Martha said.

"I figured I'd surprise you," Alex smiled.

The three of them began to eat. Alex saw the empty seat and was reminded of Clark. Being at Hogwarts, he had almost forgotten that his brother had even died.

After eating, Alex went to the loft and stood looking out the window. Since being reminded of Clark's death, he had had it on his mind. He still didn't understand how a lightning bolt had struck the ground when it was a clear blue sky.

When Christmas morning arrived, Alex walked downstairs into the living room to see a gift sitting on the couch. It had not been there the night before. He tore the wrapping and found a cloth bag inside with a note.

This is what you are looking for.

-AD

From the initials, Alex was assuming that the gift was from Dumbledore. Alex opened the bag and turned it over. He let the contents fall out on to his hand. He was surprised at what it was. Dumbledore had sent Alex the shard he had searched Snape's office for.

Alex looked at the symbols on it again. Then something sprang in his mind.

"Mom, Dad," Alex called.

Jonathan and Martha came into the room.

"Aren't these Kryptonian symbols?" he asked.

Jonathan and Martha looked at it.

"They resemble them. Where did you get this?" Jonathan asked.

"I found it on the Hogwarts grounds at the beginning of term," Alex said.

"Looks like it is a chip off of something bigger," Martha examined.

"There is a dark wizard out there that plans to become more powerful with something called the tablet. I just wonder if this chip is possibly part of that tablet," Alex pondered.

Alex stood in the Kawatche Cave. He held the shard in his hand and compared the symbols with the Kryptonian symbols written on the cave walls. Clark had learned that Kryptonians had been to earth many times over the course of history and that they had written these symbols. Jor-El had even been to earth at one point.

Alex continued to look around the cave. As he did so, he noticed something he never had before. There was a split in one of the walls. Had this always been there? He approached it and lit his wand. He held it at the crack. As he looked inside, all he saw was blank space. It seemed that rather than being a crack, this was actually some kind of chamber. He aimed his wand toward the ground to see something that looked like a platter on the ground.

"Alex," a voice said from behind him.

Alex hid his wand so that the muggle behind him would not see it. He turned to see a flashlight shined in his face. It was Lex.

"What are you doing down here?" Lex asked.

Alex looked around. "Just kind of reminiscing really?"

"In a dark cave?" Lex skeptically asked.

"Yeah. Clark spent a lot time down here," Alex said.

"How is the Kent family coping with Clark's death?" Lex asked.

"I'm doing what I can to not think about it," Alex replied.

Alex looked at his watch. "I need to be going."

He took off out of the cave.

The holiday break had ended and everyone had gone back to Hogwarts. Alex met with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Great Hall to give them the news of the shard.

"I received the shard for Christmas. I think Dumbledore sent it to me," Alex said showing them the note.

"I don't understand," Harry said. "What is so special about a rock?"

"I think that this shard has something to do with the tablet that Voldemort is after," Alex said.

"Where is the rest of it?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure," Alex said.

"Blimey, we don't even know what it looks like," Ron said. "How are we supposed to find it?"

"If we don't, Voldemort will become unstoppable."


	13. Chapter 13: The Tombstone

Chapter 13

The Tombstone

Alex stood in the stands of the Quidditch pitch with Ron and Hermione. It was late January and snow had picked up. A blizzard was hitting Gryffindor's second Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. As the players struggled to play, Alex worked to keep Hermione warm.

"It's….fa….fa….freezing," she was saying.

Alex pulled out his wand and put a warm shield around both Ron and Hermione with it. With that, they were perfectly warm. As the white snow blasted through the air, Alex could tell that Harry was having trouble finding the snitch. The score was ten-zero with Ravenclaw winning. Ravenclaw had barely managed to score the one goal that they had. Quidditch games were played no matter what kind of weather.

As Alex squinted trying to see Harry, he turned to see what looked like Dumbledore, Lupin, Snape, and McGonagall entering Hagrid's hut.

"I'm heading back to the castle," Alex said.

Alex left the stands and snuck to Hagrid's hut. He was curious as to whether or not the teachers knew anything about the tablet. Alex was fortunate that Hagrid's window was open. He focused his hearing into the hut from outside the window.

"So what is this tablet?" McGonagall asked.

"It was something that Jor-El enchanted in the first wizarding war," Dumbledore said.

_How do they know about Jor-El?_ Alex asked himself.

Was Jor-El on earth during the first war? Was this the same Jor-El? Wait, how many other people are named Jor-El? Of course it was him.

"What is so important about it tha' You-Know-Who is willin' ta kill fer it?" Hagrid asked.

"When Jor-El enchanted it, he made it so that it could provide a person with the most important information to them at the time. Voldemort's most needed information is how to resurrect. If he can get the tablet, he can rise again," Dumbledore explained.

"Voldemort tried to get it last time to have the power of knowledge, however, it was broken during a duel between Jor-El and Voldemort," Lupin added.

"If it was broken, how is You-Know-Who supposed to use it?" McGonagall asked.

"It is possible to repair it," Snape said. "The right spell could put it back together. However, he would have to possess both parts in order to do so. We know that Jor-El kept the bigger part of it."

"But the smaller part was lost during the battle of Hogwarts at the end of the war," Lupin said.

"Alex Kent found the missing part back at the beginning of the school year and I took it from him. I gave it to you, headmaster," Snape said.

"Do you still have it, Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"It is in safe keeping," Dumbledore replied.

Alex knew all he needed to so he sped off. He arrived back at the Quidditch pitch and met back with Ron and Hermione.

"I just heard some teachers talking about the tablet. I have a ton of information," Alex told them.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"I can't tell you here. We need to go to the common room," Alex said.

He looked up to see that the snow was still affecting the players as badly. Suddenly, an explosion hit the Gryffindor stand and Alex flew out of it, along with all the other students. As he fell, he felt something in his hand. He crashed on to the field. When he opened his eyes, the snitch was in it. Harry pulled his broom down beside him.

"Careful, Harry," Alex said. "You will be out of a job if Wood sees me do that again."

Alex looked forward to see the hooded follower of Voldemort outside the field with his wand raised. He had destroyed the stands. He had his hood up and he began to approach the field.

"Harry, get out of here!" Alex commanded.

Harry took off on his broom into the air. Alex shot a shield around all of the students on the field.

"Ron! Get Hermione out of here," Alex yelled as he saw Ron and Hermione at the edge of the students.

The man began approaching Alex. Alex suddenly heard a swooping sound. He looked up to see the man he had seen in his broom flight class swinging. The man was swinging down from one of the stand towers. The man landed beside Alex. He had a face mask on, so Alex was unsure his identity. The man began to shoot string lines at Voldemort's follower. It looked like spider web. His shots eventually turned into balls of web.

Voldemort's follower was being hit so much by web that he finally fled. The masked man looked at Alex.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"The Human Spider," the masked man said.

With that, Human Spider leapt into the air and swung off.

Alex now sat in the common room with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The Quidditch game had been given to Ravenclaw after the players had fled from Voldemort's follower.

"Okay, so what is this tablet?" Harry asked.

"I heard Dumbledore, Lupin, Snape, and McGonagall talking and according to them, it is an enchanted tablet that gives a person the most vital information that they need," Alex said. "But it's broken. The shard that I have is only part of it."

"Where is the other?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Alex said. "The person that created it kept the other half and he is dead now."

"Who created it?" Ron asked.

"Some guy named…Joe," Alex quickly said.

"We need to find that other part," Harry said.

"The question is, where to start looking?" Hermione said.

"We need to research this Joe and figure out where he might have put it," Ron said.

"All I know is that his name was Joe," Alex said. "That doesn't give us anything to go on."

Alex couldn't tell them about Jor-El for the risk of exposing his secret so he had to use the name Joe.

"We'd better hope the other side doesn't have more information than we do," Hermione said.

Alex lay asleep in bed. He wasn't sleeping well. All of the things that were happening right now were keeping him from being able to sleep peacefully. As he tossed and turned, he awoke. He wasn't in the dorm. He was on the couch in the Kent's living room. Light was shining into the window as though it was from the ground. The sky was night. Alex got up and walked to the door.

He opened the door and walked outside on to the porch. In front of him, at the foot of the steps, was a tombstone reading "Clark Kent."

"I know that you are feeling pain over my death, but don't" a voice said to the right of him.

He turned to see Clark walking on the porch.

"If you continue to dwell on my death, you will never become who you are meant to be," Clark said.

"How am I supposed to not? You are my brother," Alex said.

"Someone very close to you is going to die soon," Clark said. "If you don't stop it."

"Who is it?" Alex asked urgently.

A tombstone appeared like lightning out by the barn. Alex took off running toward it. As he ran, the light continued to intensify. When he arrived at the tombstone, he bent down to read it. The light was so bright; he couldn't tell what it said.

Alex awoke in the dorm sweating. He looked around to see that everyone else was asleep. Who was it that was supposed to die? He had to find out and stop it from happening.


	14. Chapter 14: Domenos Forvolt

Chapter 14

Domenos Forvolt

For the next few months, Alex feared for his friends. He didn't know who was going to die or when. He only knew that one would. He hoped that if he found the tablet and reconstructed it, it might reveal who was going to die.

It was the week before final exams and everyone was studying. Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to be as concerned with studying as figuring out who Voldemort's follower was.

The four of them, along with Jake and Peter were sitting in the library. Peter was reading the wizard newspaper, _The Daily Prophet_. The rest of them were quietly studying textbooks. As they studied, Alex glanced at the newspaper. The cover story was titled "Followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named on the loose." Alex glanced at the pictures on the newspaper to see the man who continued to attack the school. His hood was not up.

"That's him!" Alex exclaimed, then realizing he was in the middle of the library.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"The guy that keeps attacking the school. He is on the cover of the paper," Alex pointed.

Peter showed the cover to them. Alex showed them the picture.

"Domenos Forvolt," Hermione said.

"That's an odd name," Harry said.

"So is Voldemort," Alex said. "Who would name their son that?"

"Wait, don't you know?" Hermione asked.

"Know what?" Alex asked.

Hermione took out a piece of parchment and wrote out "Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"This was Voldemort's birth name," Hermione said. "His father was a muggle and this was his name as well. He passed the name to Voldemort."

"Yeah, but he hated having a muggle name, so he changed it," Ron said.

"What does this matter?" Alex asked.

Hermione began writing something else below the name. Each time she would use a letter, she would cross out one of the letters in the name. After using all the letters, the line read "I am Lord Voldemort."

"Whoa," Harry said.

"He must've planned that," Jake said.

Alex took the newspaper and began to look at Domenos Forvolt.

"You can spell Voldemort out of Domenos Forvolt," Alex said.

Hermione wrote the name out and wrote Voldemort, marking out each letter used.

"What is left?" Harry asked.

"O-N-S-F-O," Hermione read.

"On sfo," Ron said.

Everyone looked at Ron like he was stupid.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Give me that?" Alex said noticing something.

Alex wrote out something with the five letters and looked at it. He then held it up for the others to see. Their jaws dropped.

"Son of Voldemort," Hermione said.

Alex walked into Lupin's office to see Lupin at the desk.

"Professor, I need to talk to you," Alex said.

"What is it, Alex?" Lupin asked.

"I figured out who keeps attacking the school. The guy from the Entrance Hall on Halloween, the one who attacked both of Gryffindor's Quidditch games, the one that keeps popping up. It is the son of Lord Voldemort," Alex explained.

"How do you know this?" Lupin asked in amazement.

Alex wrote out the names and explained it to Lupin what he and the others had found.

"So we are dealing with the offspring of Voldemort here," Alex said. "It's no wonder he wants so badly to kill Harry and resurrect Voldemort."

"Yes, but there is no known time of Tom Riddle ever being in a relationship," Lupin said. "He was not the most popular student at Hogwarts."

"We don't know what Voldemort did in his life? Who knows if Domenos is even a biological son? Perhaps he was created by magic or something," Alex theorized.

"Look, I'll talk to Professor Dumbledore about this," Lupin assured Alex.

"Thank you," Alex said.

Alex sat in the dorm along with the five other guys.

"You are worried, aren't you?" Jake asked.

"It's not that I'm worried. I need to stop Domenos. He is going to be after Harry," Alex said.

"Wow, and I thought McGonagall and Snape's exams were stressful," Jake said.

The door busted open.

"Alex, he's here," Ron said busting in.

"Who?" Alex asked.

"Come on," Ron said.

Alex looked at Jake and they took off out the door. They followed Ron out of the common room and down the grand staircase. They arrived at the third floor corridor to see Domenos and Lupin dueling with Harry and Hermione in the corner.

The thoughts of what Clark had told him about a loved one dying came to him. He would not let Hermione or Harry be the one to die. Alex drew his wand and joined Lupin. He began to throw spells at Domenos as the battle was being fought.

"Harry, get Hermione out of here!" Alex screamed.

Suddenly, the Human Spider came swinging on to the scene. He landed and began to shoot balls of web at Domenos.

"Oh, no," Domenos said sarcastically. "The petty bug again. Time to squash him."

Domenos cast a powerful blast at both Alex and Lupin. They were thrown into the wall. Alex couldn't move. It was as though he was frozen. Domenos turned and aimed his wand at the Human Spider.

"_Rictasempra_," Domenos yelled.

The Human Spider was hit and flew down the staircase. Alex guessed that he had fallen the three stories to the first floor.

"_Mobulus_," Hermione said aiming her wand at Alex and Lupin.

Alex was suddenly able to move. He and Lupin began blocking Domenos's spells. As they fought, Hermione jumped in and began shooting spells herself.

"_Avada Kedavra_," Domenos cast at Alex.

Alex was hit and fell to the floor. He felt paralyzed, but not as badly as last time. Hermione and Lupin screamed as they probably thought he was dead.

"_Stupefy_," he heard Domenos cast.

Alex felt Lupin crash onto his legs.

"_Crucio_," Domenos cast.

Alex heard Hermione begin to scream in pain. Alex felt anger fill him. He wanted to super speed to Domenos, grab him, and choke the life out of him, but he still couldn't move.

"You git!" Ron yelled.

Alex heard a punch and Ron scream in pain. He crashed to the ground. Hermione was still screaming. Alex couldn't sit here and watch her get killed. He had to be able to stop Clark's prediction from coming true, however, he was still paralyzed.

Hermione was screaming so much that she finally just passed out. Alex heard her body hit the ground. Alex suddenly felt mobile. He slammed his fist on to the ground and stood up.

"Pissed you off, didn't I?" Domenos laughed.

Alex flicked his wand and Domenos's wand flew out of his hand and down the stairway. Alex ran at Domenos, grabbed him, and slammed him against the stairway's rail. He began to choke Domenos. Jake and Victor arrived on the scene. They stood beside Alex trying to get him to stop choking Domenos.

"Man, you have to stop," Victor said.

"If you kill him, you will be no better than him," Jake said.

Alex knew that he had to stop choking Domenos, but he was so angry at the man's attack on Hermione. As he squeezed the man's neck, he heard Clark's voice in his head saying, "Alex, stop."

Alex let go of his neck and tossed him down the stairs. Domenos rolled down the stairs to the second floor. Harry was standing next to him. Jake and Victor walked up behind him.

"Calm down, man. It's all going to be okay now," Jake said.

"Hermione," Alex said running to her body.

Alex checked Hermione's pulse. She was still alive. He fell on to his side and sat there beside her.

Suddenly, a blast flew up the stairs and sent Jake, Victor, and Harry flying up the stairs toward the fourth floor. Alex stood up and ran over to the stairs. He looked down but Domenos wasn't there. He began to look around but couldn't find Domenos. He x-rayed the surrounding areas, but didn't find him. Then, looking over, he saw Domenos standing beside Hermione's unconscious body.

Alex drew his wand but before he could cast a spell, it was hit by Domenos's spell and flew down the stairway.

"_Avada Kedavra_," Domenos cast.

Alex was hit by the green spell and fell down the middle of the stairway. The last thing he saw before he crashed into the first floor was the Human Spider laying unconscious on the floor. Alex crashed into the floor face first and was stuck there.

When he was finally able to move again, he stood up. It was about the same time that the Human Spider awoke.

"Who's under the mask?" Alex asked.

The Human Spider removed his mask and to Alex's surprise, it was Peter.

"How do you have spider powers?" Alex asked.

"When Malfoy attacked me at the beginning of the year, I fell onto the ground and some kind of spider bit me. I think it had been a spider that was either affected by a spell or potion. That's what the bite on my hand was from. The bite healed and I got powers," Peter said.

Alex reached over and grabbed his wand, which had landed in the area.

"Hermione," Alex realized.

Alex stood and began to run up the stairs.

"Alex," Peter stopped him.

Alex turned. Peter had put his mask back on. Peter grabbed Alex's arm, shot web to the third floor and pulled them up. They flew over the rail and landed. Alex began to look around. Domenos was gone and so was Hermione.

Harry, Jake, and Victor were standing next to the stairway, Lupin had stood back up. Ron stood to his feet. He had a cut on his face from the punch.

"He took her," Harry said. "Voldemort's son took Hermione."

"How did you survive that killing curse, Alex?" Lupin asked.

"I was just lucky, I guess," Alex quickly said. "No time to chat. We have to find her!"

Alex, Harry, Ron, and Lupin stood in Dumbledore's office.

"So the son of Lord Voldemort has kidnapped Ms. Granger from Hogwarts," Dumbledore recounted.

"Yes, we are unsure where he has taken her though?" Lupin said.

"Look, we have to find her. He is going to kill her if we don't find her," Alex said, almost in panic mode.

"We are going to do what we can to find her, Alex. The problem is, that he left no trace as to where he has taken her," Lupin said.

"We know he wants two things. He wants to kill Harry and he wants to find the tablet," Alex listed. "Harry is with us and Domenos isn't. That means he is probably looking for the tablet, wherever he is."

"The problem is that we don't know where the bloody tablet is," Ron said.

"How do you all even know about the tablet?" Lupin asked.

"Uh, we picked up on it in reading once," Alex quickly made up.

Alex could tell that Ron was angry about Hermione's kidnapping as well.

"We need to get all aurors out looking for her. If Domenos gets that tablet then we will have a second wizarding war on our hands with the return of Voldemort," Lupin said.

"Remus, send an owl to the ministry. Tell them to get every available auror searching for Domenos. Meanwhile, I will alert all Hogwarts teachers of this. Some need to join the search party. Others need to stay and protect the school. After you get the owl out, go and get Severus. You two join together and start a search for Ms. Granger," Dumbledore instructed.

Lupin began to speed out of the office.

"What about us?" Harry asked.

"You three need to go back to your common room," Dumbledore said. "You will be safe there."

"Hermione is our friend. You expect us to just sit here?" Harry asked.

"She's my girlfriend!" Alex said.

"We are the closest people to her in this whole school," Ron said.

"Alex, Harry, Ron, you are all three exceptional wizards for your year, but you are not strong enough to battle a dark wizard," Lupin said walking back in.

"I've battled him three times. I was the last one conscious when he attacked earlier. I am strong enough to beat him," Alex said.

"Go to your common room," Lupin sternly commanded.

Alex backed off. "Fine."

Alex, Harry, and Ron walked into the Gryffindor common room. Alex slammed his fist onto the table.

"Control your anger, mate. You actually scare me when you are angry," Ron said.

"I don't care what they say, we have to find her," Alex said.

"If Domenos is searching for the tablet, it's like you said, we have to find the tablet," Harry said.

"Where is the tablet?" Ron asked.

"If we knew more about that Joe that made the tablet, we might be able to figure out where it is," Harry said.

It hit Alex right when Harry said that. Where would Jor-El hide the tablet? The first thought that Alex had was the cave. The Kawatche Cave was the place in Smallville that housed all things Kryptonian. If Jor-El had hidden something, it would be there. Unless, he had somehow planted it in the fortress before it was constructed.

Alex remembered something he had completely forgotten about. The night he had been shining his wand into the hole in the cave wall, he had saw a white platter on the floor of the inner cavern. That must have been the tablet.

"Guys, I know where the tablet is. Let's get Hermione back," Alex said.


	15. Chapter 15: The Tablet of Knowledge

Chapter 15

The Tablet of Knowledge

Alex, Harry, and Ron stood in the common room.

"How are we supposed to sneak out of the school? You know teachers are going to be guarding every corridor," Alex posed.

"I know how," Harry said.

Harry took off up into his dorm and returned with a cloak.

"I still don't know who sent me this, but it will work," Harry said.

"The invisibility cloak," Ron said.

"Invisibility?" Alex asked.

"You put it on and it goes invisible with you under it," Ron said.

"Great, we can take brooms to Smallville. Let's go," Alex said.

Harry threw the cloak over himself, Alex, and Ron. The three of them walked out of the Gryffindor common room and down the stairs. When they arrived in the entrance hall, Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin, McGonagall, and Hagrid were all there. They had to stop and stay under the cloak, while watching.

"We have to go stop Domenos," Dumbledore said. "Minerva, I need you to protect the inside of the school. Hagrid, you need to watch the outside, if anything begins to try and get in, alert the castle."

"Albus, what do you think he has done to Ms. Granger?" McGonagall asked.

"I fear she is already dead. I am concerned with finding the tablet before he can kill anyone else," Dumbledore said.

"We are wasting time, let's go," Lupin said.

Lupin, Dumbledore, and Snape exited the castle. McGonagall entered the Great Hall. Hagrid walked out. Alex, Harry, and Ron took off out the door. When they arrived out, they took off the cloak.

"We need to get brooms from the Quidditch pitch," Harry said.

But Alex couldn't wait any longer. He had to get to Smallville. As Harry and Ron took off down the hill, Alex super sped away.

Alex arrived in the Kawatche Cave. He lit his wand and pointed it toward the wall that the tablet had been in that night. Horror struck him as he stared at the wall.

The crevasse that had been there over Christmas break was now an inner chamber and the wall was gone. Alex ran inside it to see that the tablet was gone.

Domenos had already been here. That meant that Voldemort would be back soon and there would be nothing he could do about it. Domenos could have come and gone hours ago and there was no telling where he was.

Then Alex remembered something. It might not have been Domenos who had taken the tablet. The night Alex had saw the tablet inside the wall, someone else had been down here; someone who would have been able to get inside the wall.

"Lex," Alex said.

He super sped from the cave.

Alex arrived in the library of the Luthor mansion. Staying out of view of the security cameras, he disabled them with his wand. He x-rayed around to try and find anyone in the house. As he x-rayed, he saw a person walking toward the library door.

Alex quickly jumped to the side of the door. The door opened and Lex walked in with a cell phone to his ear.

"Look, I don't care if you have to round up the whole board of directors tonight, just get us some numbers on paper!" Lex said angrily into the phone.

Alex flicked his wand and a red blast knocked Lex unconscious. Alex began to x-ray around. As he did so, he saw a secret compartment behind one of the bookshelves. Alex had remembered this being broken open the day he had battled Nam-Ek and Aethyr in this room.

Alex held up his wand and the bookshelf opened. He walked to the entrance to see the tablet sitting on the shelf. He smiled. This meant that Domenos hadn't found it yet. He walked up and reached for it.

As he was reaching, Alex noticed parts of other relics in the room begin to glow green. He felt pain in his knees, as though he had been running for miles. He felt he couldn't stand anymore and fell to the ground. He hadn't gotten the tablet in his hand and he now lay on the ground weak.

This was the first time he had felt the pain of Kryptonite. He understood now why Clark had felt like leaving Smallville to get away from it.

Alex reached for his wand that was laying in arms reach. He flicked it at the Kryptonite but nothing happened. He did it again but still nothing.

It seemed that his wand didn't work on Kryptonite for some reason. He tried one more time, but it still didn't work.

Suddenly, his wand flew from his hand. He turned to see Hermione get thrown onto the couch. She was unconscious, he hoped. Domenos walked around and Alex saw him reach up and grab the tablet.

"Thanks for opening the door for me," Domenos said.

"Stop," Alex struggled to say. "You don't know what you are doing. Voldemort will destroy the world."

"He is my father. He and I will rule it together," Domenos laughed.

Domenos grabbed Hermione and tossed her over his shoulder.

"And with this one, I will produce my own heir. The Voldemort family will overtake this planet, and you can't stop us," Domenos smirked.

He walked out of the library. Alex struggled but he couldn't even hold his head up. He began reaching for his wand, which had fallen quite close to the Kryptonite. As he crawled to the wand, the pain intensified. He grabbed the wand and shot a help flare out of the mansion. Any hope of Harry and Ron finding him would be based on whether or not they saw that flare. His head fell back and he fell unconscious.

Harry and Ron had flown all the way across the Atlantic Ocean on brooms. They were making their way towards the Midwest United States. Harry guessed they were over Kentucky or Missouri.

"Harry, we don't know where the bloody hell Alex went. How are we supposed to find him?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Harry said. "I don't even know if he came to Smallville. He might have chickened out and went back into the castle."

At that moment, a red blast flew into the sky in the very far distance.

"What is that?" Ron asked.

"Let's go see," Harry said.

The two of them jetted toward the light.

Alex lay on the floor as he felt the Kryptonite suck the life out of him. He knew that if he didn't get away from this soon, he would die. He was unconscious, but he was able to think. His thoughts were perfectly intact as he lay in the vault.

Another thing that Alex worried about was Lex waking up and finding him in his library and the tablet gone. As he struggled to hold on to life, he awoke laying on a beach at sunrise.

He stood up and looked around. The light was bright. As he looked around, he saw various people walking along the shore. All of these people were in pure white clothing. Alex looked down and realized that he was naked.

He took off running into the water until he was about waist deep. He only hoped that no hungry fish came by as he stood there. As he looked around, he saw Clark walking down from the back of the beach. Clark walked down into the water, despite that he was wearing clothes.

"Am I dead?" Alex asked, thinking that this might be heaven.

"No," Clark said. "You are having a vision."

"Is this heaven?" Alex asked.

"It is not the real heaven," Clark said. "The real heaven is too majestic for any living human to comprehend. This vision is being shown to you in a way in which you can understand it."

"What do I do?" Alex asked. "I am in the vault about to die."

"Since you accepted my destiny, I have appeared to you several times," Clark said. "This is the last time I will appear to you. From this point on, you will have to embrace your destiny on your own. I told you, Mom, and Dad in the loft that night that I would appear to you until you understood your destiny. Now you do. Voldemort will continue trying to destroy the world. You and Harry have a destiny together. You will have to work together to stop Voldemort. That is your destiny. You will be the world's greatest hero, but that will never come until Voldemort is defeated."

"Domenos has the tablet," Alex said. "How can I defeat Voldemort if he can always be one step ahead of me with knowledge?"

"You have to get the tablet back. You forget, you have the shard. Without the shard, Voldemort cannot use the tablet. The tablet is more important than you realize. Jor-El used it to learn how to defeat Voldemort," Clark explained.

"Yeah, about that," Alex interrupted. "Jor-El was a wizard?"

"No, the tablet is not enchanted like the wizards think. It is Kryptonian technology," Clark said. "The tablet is important. It will provide you with very essential information. That information will…"

Alex felt himself sucked out of the scene and he awoke to Harry and Ron dragging him out of the vault. He struggled up, still clutching his wand.

"What happened?" Ron asked.

Alex couldn't tell them about the Kryptonite, so he had to slightly bend the truth.

"Domenos attacked me. He took the tablet," Alex said.

"Where did he go?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. He left the library. He has Hermione with him, but she is unconscious. One thing is for sure, we have at least nine months to save her," Alex explained. "He intends to father a child with her."

Ron grew angry very quickly. It was as if the veins almost popped out of his forehead.

"That bloody git!" Ron spat.

"We don't have time for this small talk, come on. We have to find him," Alex said.

Alex used his wand to close the vault door. If Lex didn't know the tablet was missing, perhaps he wouldn't come asking questions. Lex was still unconscious on the ground as Alex, Harry, and Ron ran from the library.

The three of them exited the mansion and took off down the hill. By now, Domenos could be anywhere in the world if he apparated. As they ran down the grounds of the Luthor estate, Alex noticed a hooded figure down by the lake.

"Guys, he didn't go far away," Alex said.

Ron took off charging at Domenos.

"Ron, no!" Harry screamed.

Alex and Harry began chasing Ron. Ron ran up to Domenos and stuck his wand out, but before he could cast anything, Domenos had disarmed him and forced him to the ground.

Alex and Harry drew their wands and began throwing spells at him. Domenos easily blocked each one of them. Alex saw Harry get hit by a red spell and fall to the ground. Alex suddenly felt his body get lifted into the air and fly towards the lake. As he was hovering over the lake, Kryptonite chains magically wrapped around him and he fell into the lake. He struggled to get the chains off. The chains took him straight to the bottom of the lake. With no energy from the Kryptonite and not the power to hold his breath, Alex lost consciousness.

Harry lay on the ground as Domenos stood in front of him. Hermione was unconscious on the ground next to him. Harry guessed that the white plate in Domenos's hand was the tablet. Ron laid face first in the dirt to the right of him.

"Harry Potter, the boy who lived," Domenos said. "How I have waited for this moment."

Domenos held up his wand and looked at it. The wand was white and it had a thick handle on it.

"You know, this is the very wand that my father used," Domenos said. "It's the one he used to murder your parents. It's the one that gave you that scar that you are so famous for. You are famous for killing my father. Lord Voldemort, the greatest wizard who has ever lived."

"That's not true," Harry said. "Voldemort is nothing but a petty killer.".

"You are a fool, Harry Potter," Domenos said.

Domenos continued looking at the wand. He then quickly pointed it at Harry.

"_Avada Kedavra_," Domenos yelled.

"_Expelliarmus_," Harry quickly shot back.

The two spells met in the middle to form a lightning streak from one wand to the other. What was going on? As Harry concentrated on keeping the spell going, he saw another red beam hit Domenos's spell. He looked over to see Ron standing beside him aiming at Domenos with a red blast coming from his wand. This encouraged Harry and he continued holding strong to the spell.

Suddenly, another beam hit Domenos's spell in the middle. Harry looked over to see that Hermione had awoken and drawn her wand. The three of them had their spells holding back Domenos.

Lightning strikes were flying off of the center point where the spells met. They were flying into the water, on to the trees, and towards the mansion. Harry heard windows breaking at the mansion. He heard limbs falling from the trees.

As the three of them held on, Domenos started to struggle.

Alex was closer to death now than he had been in Lex's vault. As he struggled to break free of the Kryptonite, he felt lightning strike all around him. Was this going to be what happened to him? Was he going to die the same way Clark did? Getting struck by lightning around Kryptonite?

The lightning continued to hit around him, but then one hit him. He felt the chains break and fall off of him. He used the only energy he could muster up to swim away from the Kryptonite. He finally reached the top of the lake and crawled on to the shore working his strength back.

Looking across the lake, he saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione holding a spell against Domenos. It looked as though Domenos was having problems holding it. Finally, Domenos broke the connection and turned into a black cloudy figure, taking off across the lake. He landed in the woods behind Alex. Alex watched Harry, Ron, and Hermione meet in a group hug on the other side.

Alex turned to see Domenos. He walked up to him with his wand out.

"Alex Kent," Domenos said. "I've got to hand it to you, you are better at dueling than Harry Potter. But you are a fool if you think that you can't defeat me."

Domenos flicked his wand and a chunk of Kryptonite appeared beside Alex. Alex fell to his knees in pain.

"You were right there that day and I missed you," Domenos said.

"What are you talking about?" Alex struggled to say.

"The day of the meteor shower," Domenos said. "I had a clear shot at you, but I accidentally hit your brother."

Alex realized what he had been wondering for so long. The lightning that had struck Clark had been from the wand of the son of Voldemort.

"You," Alex said with anger. "You murdered my brother."

"I was aiming at you," Domenos said.

"What is so special about me? Why did you choose to try and kill me out of all of the other future Hogwarts students?" Alex questioned.

"You have more of an importance than just your inherited destiny," Domenos said. "There are things about you that you have yet to learn. Aside from Harry Potter, you are the one other person that could oppose me."

"You can't kill me," Alex said as he fell onto his back. "If you kill me, you will never be able to use the tablet."

"I have the tablet, you don't," Domenos said.

"You don't have the shard," Alex said. "Without the shard, you will never be able to use the tablet."

"After I kill you, I will find the shard," Domenos said.

"Not if Dumbledore gets to it first," Alex said. "Even if you kill me, you will never win in the end."

"How do you know that?" Domenos asked.

"I have faith," Alex strengthened himself.

Alex shot a red blast at the Kryptonite, sending it flying into the water. Alex then shot a blue blast at Domenos. He was thrown into a tree.

Every temptation was telling Alex to kill Domenos. Every temptation told him to strike the man down right now. However, Alex thought about Clark. He thought about Jonathan and Martha. He thought about everything he had been taught growing up. How Jonathan had always taught him and Clark to look for the best in people and believe in them. He knew that killing Domenos would only make him as bad as Voldemort. There was still hope for Domenos.

"Kill me," Domenos smirked. "I would have killed you and your friends in a second."

"That's the difference in me and you," Alex said. "I wasn't brought into this world by the monster that is Voldemort. I was brought into the world by Jonathan and Martha Kent. It was out of their love that I became the person I am. And there is still hope for you."

"Why would I ever come to your side?" Domenos asked.

"Because if you don't, you will lose," Alex said.

Alex sent a red blast at Domenos and he was knocked into the dirt, still clutching the tablet.

"No matter what power you have, Voldemort will never triumph," Alex said sending another blast at him.

Domenos clutched the tablet as though he was desperate to keep it.

"I still believe there is hope for you," Alex said sending another blast at him.

Alex sent a blast at the tablet and it came out of Domenos's hand and Alex caught it, mid-air.

Domenos grabbed the wand of Lord Voldemort and painfully turned over to look at Alex.

"Good…..battle….Kent," Domenos said.

With that, Domenos apparated away. Alex knew that there would be another day when he and Harry met Domenos. It was not something he had to worry about right now. He had the tablet. None of his loved ones had died. Alex had stopped Clark's warning from coming true and he was fine.

Alex turned and walked to the edge of the lake to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione happily in a friendly hug. He smiled and watched them. They were the true model of friendship. He knew that that was how they had defeated Domenos. It was not through their combined magical power, but rather through the love and friendship they had shown by working together.

He looked at the tablet to see Kryptonian symbols all around the rim. He put it in the pocket inside his robe and took off running at super speed.

Alex arrived in the loft. He opened the chest that sat in front of the couch. Inside was many of the things Clark had owned. His football letter jacket from high school, the picture of him and Lana dancing at prom, the baseball glove and ball that Jonathan used to play catch with him with, and many other things. Alex set the tablet inside and closed it. He used his wand to create a shield around the chest so that if Domenos or anyone else came looking for it, they couldn't get to it.

He walked down the stairs of the barn and into the house. Jonathan and Martha were in the living room.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" Martha asked.

"If you only knew what I have been through tonight," Alex laughed. "I found the tablet."

Alex explained everything to them. He told them how he had fought Domenos on the third floor with Harry, Ron, Lupin, Peter, Victor, and Jake. He told them how he had had to squeeze under the cloak with Harry and Ron to hide from the Professors. He told them about the cave and about knocking Lex out and being weakened by the Kryptonite. He explained what Clark had said in his last vision. He told of almost drowning in the lake and about Harry, Ron, and Hermione's battle against Domenos. He finally explained his powerful burst of faith in taking down Domenos.

After explaining everything to them, he left the farm and super sped back to the castle. By the time he arrived, it was early in the morning. The sun was peaking over the horizon. Alex checked his watch to see that it was 5:15 a.m.

Upon entering the common room, he saw Jake and Victor with their heads down on the study desk asleep. He woke them up.

"Guys," Alex said. "I know that exams are stressful, but studying this late into the night is kind of insane."

They both woke up.

"Alex," Jake said.

"No, we were just briefly going over this. Harry and Ron came in and woke us up the first time," Victor said.

"Where are they?" Alex asked.

"They took Hermione to the hospital wing," Jake said.

"Yeah, but you should seriously…." Victor started.

Before Victor could even finish, Alex was out of the common room and on his way to the hospital wing. He walked in to see Hermione sitting up in her bed with Harry on one side and Ron on the other, each on a chair.

"Alex," Harry said. "What happened to you?"

"Domenos chained you up and tossed you in the lake," Ron added.

"I got out," Alex said. "Great job. I saw you three work together to stop Domenos."

"We didn't defeat him. He fled," Ron said.

"He got a pretty good second beating from me," Alex smiled.

"You beat him," Harry questioned.

"He fled from me too, but only because he was tired of getting hit by spells," Alex said.

"He has the tablet," Harry said. "Voldemort will be back."

The door opened and Dumbledore walked in with McGonagall and Lupin behind him.

"Alex, Harry, Ron," Dumbledore started.

"We completely ignored your authority, sir," Ron said. "We know. But it was only because we knew the whereabouts of the tablet."

"You deliberately disobeyed me," Dumbledore said sternly. "You three could have been killed. You put yourself in emanate danger."

"But sir…" Hermione started.

"But Ms. Granger would not be alive right now, had it not been for you three's disobedience of the rules," Dumbledore said. "It is only right that you three should receive rewards for your disobedience, not punishment."

Dumbledore smiled.

"What happened?" Lupin asked. "Did you get the tablet?"

"Domenos got away with it," Harry said.

"Actually, after he fled from you three, I battled him myself," Alex said. "One of my spells hit the tablet and it destroyed it."

Alex felt that not telling them he had the tablet was the best thing. They would think it was destroyed and there would be no more reason to worry about it. Alex intended to keep it in a safe place after he was done with it. It was Kryptonian technology, created by Jor-El. Even though Jor-El had denied Alex, he still felt that it rightfully belonged to him.

"But I'm not sure it's such a bad thing. A device that can give someone vital knowledge, that kind of power could go to anyone's head," Alex said.

"With the tablet gone, Domenos is going to have to find another way to resurrect Voldemort," Harry said.

"Is there even another way?" Ron asked.

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore said. "We are still far from forever destroying Voldemort."

"About that," Lupin said. "Headmaster, there is an idea I want to run by you."

Lupin turned and Dumbledore and McGonagall walked out with him.

"Hold on, there is one thing I still don't understand," Harry said turning to Alex.

"What's that?" Alex asked.

"How did you get from the courtyard with me and Ron to the Luthor mansion without using a broom like we did?" Harry asked.

"Okay, you all got me. I ran," Alex laughed.

Ron laughed in a sarcastic way. "Ran, huh."

Harry and Ron stood and began to walk out of the hospital wing.

"You know, Harry," Ron said. "I have never understood that guy."

Alex smiled watching them leave. He turned and looked at Hermione.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again," he said.

"Oh come on, you have to let me grow up at some point," Hermione joked.

"It's not because I'm worried about your physical state. It's that I can't take my eyes off of your beautiful face," Alex smiled.

Alex set on the edge of her bed.

"Seriously though, thank you so much. I wouldn't be alive if you hadn't come out there," Hermione said.

Hermione grabbed Alex's hand. He smiled.

"So, how long are you in for?" Alex asked.

"Just until the morning," Hermione said. "Madam Pomfrey wants to make sure that I am completely good to go."

"Great," Alex said. "I don't think Ron is going to be able to pass his exams without you."

"The exams are cancelled," Hermione said.

"Cancelled?" Alex questioned.

"Yeah, I know, I'm upset to," Hermione said in a serious tone.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm upset," Alex said.

"Dumbledore said that in light of everything that has happened with the attacks, that the exams are cancelled," Hermione said.

"Hmm, that's great," Alex said. "Now, you get some sleep."

"I've been unconscious for hours, I'm not tired," Hermione replied.

Alex leaned forward and kissed Hermione. "I love you."

Hermione looked stunned from the three words Alex had said. "I love you too."

A smile came on to Hermione's face that truly made Alex melt. "I'll see you at breakfast."

Alex stood and walked out of the hospital wing.

The next two weeks passed at an easy rate since students had stopped stressing about exams. The final feast of the year came at which the house cup would be awarded. When Alex arrived in the Great Hall, the place was decorated in green and silver to commemorate Slytherin winning.

Alex walked to the table and took a seat in between Jake and Hermione. Dumbledore stood at his seat. McGonagall did her usual tapping on the glass to get everyone to stop talking.

"The end of the year has come yet again," Dumbledore said. "It is time to award the house cup. Gryffindor is in fourth place with three hundred and seventy five points. Third, Ravenclaw with four hundred and ten points. Second, Hufflepuff with five hundred points. And in first place, with five hundred and twenty five points, Slytherin."

The Slytherin table began bragging and acting as though they were better than the other houses.

"Well, at least they all aren't ignorant morons," Alex said referring to Bart, Jonny, and some others.

"Well done, Slytherin. However, I must award some last minute points. To Mr. Harry Potter, Mr. Ronald Weasley, and Ms. Hermione Granger, I award fifty points each for showing true friendship in working together to overcome evil," Dumbledore said.

"That's one hundred and fifty points. We are tied with Slytherin," Jake said.

"And lastly, for having faith in even the darkest people and showing nobility, I award fifty points to Alex Kent," Dumbledore said.

The Gryffindor table began cheering. They knew that they had beat Slytherin.

"I believe a change of decoration is in order," Dumbledore said.

He clapped his hands and held them up. The green and silver turned to red and gold.

"Gryffindor wins the house cup," Dumbledore said.

Gryffindor cheered for over ten minutes. Finally the feast took place and they all ate as the Slytherin students looked as though they were about to cry.

The next morning, the students all rode back to London on the train. They arrived on the platform. Alex, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jake all exited the train together. Alex shook Jake's hand.

"Have a good summer, man," Alex said.

"You too," Jake said.

Harry and Ron stood beside each other.

"Harry, if you need any refuge from the Dursleys, my parents won't care for you to come to the farm," Alex offered.

"I'll remember that," Harry said.

"Ron, I hope you have a good summer," Alex said.

"Likewise, mate," Ron said.

Harry and Ron took off walking away. Alex saw Ron join his red headed family and Harry join who he assumed were the Dursleys. His uncle was extremely big while his aunt was slim as a twig. They looked annoyed to be there.

Alex turned to Hermione. "I will definitely be seeing you this summer."

"I hope so too," Hermione smiled.

Alex kissed Hermione. As they were kissing, he heard a man speak.

"Hermione," the man said.

Alex pulled away from Hermione to see a man and woman standing there.

"Mom, Dad," Hermione said.

"Uh, who is this?" Hermione's mom asked.

"Mom, Dad, this is Alex, my boyfriend," Hermione said.

"Hello, Alex. I am her father," Hermione's dad said holding out his hand.

Alex felt as though the man wanted to tear him apart, though it might have just been the awkward factor from having just been caught kissing her.

"How are you?" Alex asked.

"Good to meet you," her dad said.

"Um, yeah. I, uh, I, um," Alex stumbled over his words.

Hermione's parents laughed. Her dad continued joking, "It's okay. We don't want to kill you. Actually, Hermione speaks very highly of you. You are okay."

"Okay, great. I really was worried," Alex said relieved.

"Have a good summer, Alex," Hermione's dad said.

"You too," Alex said.

Alex looked at Hermione and they both mouthed "I love you," to each other.

Alex sat in the loft staring across at the tablet and the shard setting on the desk in front of him. He had not put it together yet. As he sat, he heard footsteps coming up the steps. He turned to see Jonathan and Martha standing there.

"What is the vital information that Clark told you about?" Martha asked.

"I don't know," Alex said. "I haven't put the tablet together yet."

"Why not?" Jonathan asked.

"I can't bring myself to do it," Alex said. "Yes, Clark told me the information is important, but having a device that gives you any information you need, it seems like too much power."

"Alex, considering you just defeated a dark wizard to get this, I don't think you will let the power go to your head," Jonathan said.

"What if I do?" Alex asked. "I may have Clark's powers, but I am still a human being. I can be corrupted."

"Put the tablet together," Jonathan said. "Clark wouldn't have told you to if it was going to be dangerous."

Alex stood and walked over to the desk. He grabbed the shard in one hand and the tablet in the other. He placed them together. When he did so, light emitted through the broken part and the pieces formed together.

After the tablet formed together, Alex watched the stone plate begin to sink in at certain parts to form words. The letters finally formed into a message. Alex was deeply shocked by the message on the tablet. It was something he had never expected to see.

"Sweetheart, what does it say?" Martha asked.

Alex continued staring at the tablet in disbelief. Alex looked at the message but couldn't find any way to believe it. There had to be some kind of mistake. The message couldn't be true. He knew it couldn't.

"Alex, read the tablet," Jonathan said.

Alex looked at it, took a breath and read it. "Kal-El is still alive."


	16. Chapter 16: The Figurative Message

Chapter 16

The Figurative Message

Harry Potter was not religious; however, he prayed that if there was a God, he would deliver Harry from the torment that was the Dursleys. Harry did not have any family other than his horrible aunt and uncle and their son.

Vernon Dursley was a huge man in width. He had a huge mustache and blond hair. Petunia was the complete opposite; she was slim.

Like father, like son was definitely the case with Dudley, their son. He was round and blond. All three of them treated Harry like a slave rather than a nephew. He would have done anything to get out of their house, but as far as he knew, the Dursleys were his only family. They hated him so much, not because of anything Harry had ever done, but because he was a wizard.

Harry was fresh out of his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had only been home a few weeks and the Dursleys were treating him worse now than they had before he ever heard of Hogwarts.

Harry's parents, James and Lily Potter, had been murdered fourteen years ago by Lord Voldemort, the greatest dark wizard of all time. In Harry's first year at Hogwarts, he had encountered Lord Voldemort's son, Domenos Forvolt. Domenos was still alive somewhere and his greatest goal was to resurrect Voldemort.

Harry had battled Domenos with his three best friends, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Alex Kent. The four of them had encountered him at the end of the year and had stopped him from resurrecting Voldemort with the Tablet of Knowledge. Alex had successfully destroyed the tablet, preventing Domenos from getting the knowledge he needed to resurrect Voldemort.

Harry walked into the kitchen to see Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley all sitting at the table. Vernon was tapping his finger and looking at his watch. Dudley was banging a fork and spoon on the table yelling.

"I want breakfast!" he yelled repeatedly.

Petunia was sitting at completely straight posture looking around with a better than everyone else look.

"It's about time," Vernon said looking at Harry.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You," Dudley said pointing at Harry.

Dudley stood and walked to Harry. "Cook the breakfast."

Harry looked at the counter to see a package of bacon and a carton of eggs. Harry could tell the bacon had been there a while because it was in a puddle of water from having thawed out.

"Come on, boy," Vernon clapped. "Chop, chop."

"You three were so lazy that you couldn't cook breakfast for yourself?" Harry asked.

"Mommy, he is back talking," Dudley said turning to Petunia.

"Cook the breakfast, boy," Vernon spat. "If you don't, you are going to spend the next week locked up in your room. That bloody pigeon of yours will get the shaft as well."

"Where have you put my Hogwarts stuff?" Harry asked.

"You think I will tell you?" Vernon asked. "You're not getting that stuff out and making my family look like fruit cakes."

_It's not like you could look any worse_ Harry thought.

"Cook," Vernon pointed.

Harry walked over and began to cook the breakfast.

Alex Kent sat in the loft of the Kent barn staring at the Tablet of Knowledge. The message upon it still read "Kal-El is still alive." He had been confounded by this for weeks now.

Alex sat the tablet on his desk and ran his hand through his hair. He stood and walked to the window of the loft and watched the rising sun come up over the horizon.

He hadn't talked to any of his friends since leaving Hogwarts nearly two months before. He wondered how Harry, Jake, Kyle, and all the others were doing, most importantly, his girlfriend, Hermione.

Alex had been too busy with contemplating the tablet's message to contact any of them. They had all sent him letters, but he hadn't responded.

He turned and super sped from the loft.

Peter Parker stood on the roof of a skyscraper in New York City. He pulled his new mask on to his face, assuming his identity as The Human Spider. He leapt off of the building and shot web, swinging down towards the streets.

His senses started to tell him that there was a carjacking going on right below him. He let go of the web and began to drop towards the streets and landed on a speeding car.

Peter punched a hole through the roof and looked down at the robber who was looking back at him.

"Hi," Peter said. "Looks like you picked the wrong day to commit grand theft auto."

In seconds, Peter had the car stopped and the robber tied up in web. He left his signature up on a building in web that stated "The Human Spider" and took off to continue helping the city.

Kyle Trager stood at the counter of his family's home. He was drinking a glass of orange juice and looking at the newspaper. His younger brother, Josh Trager, came walking into the kitchen.

"People, the bathroom needs maintenance," Josh called through the house.

Stephen Trager, Kyle and Josh's father, came into the kitchen.

"What do you mean it needs maintenance?" Stephen asked. "That plumber just got done repairing the toilet yesterday."

"Well, obviously he didn't do a good job," Josh said. "I just flushed it and it exploded."

"Jeez," Stephen said taking off into the bathroom.

"Kyle, my man," Josh said. "What are you doing today?"

"I don't know, I…" Kyle started.

The doorbell rang and Kyle walked to the door. He opened it to see Tom Foss standing there.

"Foss," Kyle said.

"We need to talk," Foss said.

Foss was the assistant of Adam Baylin who was Kyle's biological father. Kyle had not been conceived by any logical means. He had been the product of Adam's genetic material kept alive in a pod for fifteen years. This had allowed Kyle's brain to develop far beyond that of a normal human, giving him super human abilities.

Adam had also been gestated this way by scientists. In a sense, Kyle was Adam's son without a mother. He had been adopted by the Tragers when they had found him wandering their woods naked.

Kyle got out of the vehicle that Foss had brought him to Adam's home in.

"What does Adam need to tell us?" Kyle asked.

"Just come inside," Foss said. "You will see."

Kyle and Foss entered the house. Kyle immediately saw Adam on the couch, looking like death. He ran over and sat on the chair beside the couch.

"Adam, what's going on?" Kyle asked.

"I am deteriorating, Kyle," Adam said.

Kyle was confounded. "Well, there has to be a way to help it."

"No, there is nothing we can do," Adam said. "I am dying."

Kyle looked at Foss flustered. "You've gotta have something that can help him. Come on!"

"Kyle, there is nothing we can do," Foss said.

"Kyle, listen to me," Adam said.

Kyle was so angry, he didn't want to listen, but did.

"I don't want what happened to me to happen to you," Adam said.

"I am going to help you train your body so that this doesn't happen," Foss said.

"What are you talking about?" Kyle asked.

"I used my powers too heavily without my body being able to handle it and because of that, my body is deteriorating," Adam said. "You must train so that that doesn't happen to you."

"I won't lose you, Adam," Kyle said.

"It's too late," Adam said.

Harry walked down the stairs of the Dursleys house and began to proceed into the kitchen. When he arrived at the door, he didn't enter when he heard Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia talking.

"The boy is complete trouble," Vernon said.

"What should we do, Vernon?" Petunia asked.

"He can't be allowed to go back to that school," Vernon said. "We need to dispose of his wand, books, and other things. I've hidden them in the cupboard under the stairs."

Harry's heart leapt. He was standing right beside the cupboard. He looked over and grabbed the doorknob. As he began to pull the door open, it squeaked.

He stopped pulling on it and closed it. He had to get his Hogwarts things out of there. Harry then heard footsteps from the kitchen. He took off up the stairs and stood at the top listening down.

He heard the ruffling of a trash bag below.

"I'll put all this stuff in this bag and take it to the river tonight," Vernon said.

Harry proceeded into his room. There was a river a few blocks from the Dursleys and Harry guessed that was where Vernon intended to dump it. Harry knew that he had to do something to stop his schooling at Hogwarts from being ended.

Jake Taylor sat in Chris Vaughn's office at NewSong church. Chris was the youth pastor at the church and he had been a family friend of Jake's for years now. It had been Chris who had inspired Jake to want to befriend students at Hogwarts who were outcast, like Jonny Garcia.

Jake was thankful he had become a Christian under Chris. Chris wasn't the type of Christian that protested military funerals or acted as though they were holier than everyone else. He was just genuinely interested in bringing love to the unloved and changing the world. That was what Jake was interested in.

"So you go back to Hogwarts in a month?" Chris asked.

"Yep," Jake said.

"Have you talked to Roger or Jonny this summer?" Chris asked.

"Jonny and I have written to each other quite a bit," Jake said. "Roger, on the other hand, I haven't heard from him all summer. He lives right next door and I have never seen him. I have even went over there and no one answered the door."

"That's not good," Chris said.

"I figure I will wait and see if he shows up at Hogwarts and if not, I'll know that there is a problem," Jake said.

Alex stood at the grave of Clark Kent. The tombstone read:

Clark Kent

1986-2005

Loyal Friend, Beloved Son, A Friend and Brother

Clark had told Alex in a vision that he didn't need to dwell on Clark's death, though he still did at times. In a way, Alex felt responsible for Clark's death. He hadn't actually killed him, but when the lightning had hit Clark, it had transferred the powers into Alex, resulting in Clark's death.

However, if the tablet was correct, Clark was still alive. That was why Alex was here, to find out if Clark was dead. He knew that he could simply x-ray the grave and if a body was in the casket, it meant that the tablet was wrong.

Alex focused his vision on the grave and began to x-ray. He saw the outline of a casket and in it was a skeleton. He cut the vision off.

Clark was not alive. The tablet was wrong. Kal-El was not still alive.

Alex super sped to the Kawatche Cave. Upon arriving, he proceeded into the back chamber in which was the table that could transport him to the Kryptonian fortress of solitude. He pulled out the octagonal key that had been the key to Clark's spaceship.

He put the key into the table and light filled the room. He was teleported to the fortress. Upon arriving, the lights were still dark from the last time he was here. Jor-El had made the fortress go dark upon Kal-El's death.

"Jor-El!" Alex yelled. "This tablet is wrong. You made it to give all information but it is wrong."

Alex still had the tablet with him. He walked around the dark fortress but Jor-El said nothing. Alex walked to the crystal console in the wall and pulled out a crystal.

Upon pulling out the crystal, the entire fortress lit up.

"You disturb the fortress, Alex Kent," Jor-El said.

"Your tablet has given me a false message," Alex said.

"My tablet of knowledge never fails, Alex," Jor-El said.

"It told me that Kal-El is still alive," Alex informed.

"Then he is still alive," Jor-El said.

"I x-rayed his grave. His body is still there," Alex said.

"The message of the tablet is not always literal," Jor-El said.

"Even if it's not, how can Kal-El still be alive figuratively?" Alex asked. "And why is that the most important information I need right now?"

"You must decipher the message yourself, Alex," Jor-El said. "I cannot help you."

"This fortress is supposed to house all of the knowledge in the universe, why can't you tell me?" Alex asked.

"It is a journey you must go on yourself," Jor-El said. "You will understand one day."

Harry sat in his bedroom. He looked at his watch to see that it was 8:30. He walked to the window and peered out to see Uncle Vernon lugging a black trash bag towards the car. He opened the trunk and looked around to make sure no one was looking. He then tossed the bag into the trunk and closed it.

Harry was angry. He knew that he had to get his things back in order to be able to go back to Hogwarts. He looked at his snowy owl, Hedwig, locked in her cage on his desk.

Harry then decided what to do. He had one of two options. At the end of term, Alex and Ron had both offered Harry the option of staying at their house. Harry knew that Alex lived in the United States but he was unsure where Ron lived. He knew that he had to first intercept Uncle Vernon and get his things back. He then had to either find a way to Smallville or to Ron's house.

"Ready to go, Hedwig?" Harry asked.

Harry grabbed Hedwig's cage and headed down the stairs. He heard Aunt Petunia and Dudley in the kitchen. He quickly proceeded out the back door and out onto Privet Drive.

He began to walk down the sidewalk. As he walked, he saw a car driving toward him. It was driving as though it hadn't noticed him, but then it stopped and backed up. Harry stopped to see the window roll down. It was Uncle Vernon.

"What are you doing, boy?" Vernon asked.

"I'm leaving," Harry said.

"No you aren't," Vernon said. "Get in the car."

"I'm not going back to your house," Harry said. "You will have to get Dudley to do your bidding. It would probably do him some good to get off the couch and computer."

"You have a problem with my boy," Vernon said angrily.

"I have a problem with you treating me like a slave," Harry said.

Vernon opened the door and walked up to him.

"Well, listen here, boy..." Vernon started.

"I'm not listening," Harry said. "I'm done with you and your family."

Harry began to walk away.

"Fine then," Vernon yelled. "You will be wishing you were back with us when you don't have a roof over your head. But you can't come back, Potter!"

Harry ignored him and kept walking.

Alex grabbed the mail from the box. It was late in the afternoon, but he had not gotten the mail yet. Jonathan and Martha were out of town.

He proceeded inside the house. When he arrived in the house, he began to thumb through the letters. He found his start of term letter from Hogwarts in the stack along with another letter. It was from Hermione.

He tore open the envelope and began to read the letter.

Alex,

Where have you been all summer? I haven't heard from you. I hope that you are okay and that nothing has happened to you. The ministry of magic is having to work harder. It seems that Domenos has broken many of Voldemort's followers out of Azkaban. I haven't been at home all summer. A couple of weeks in, Professor Lupin came and took me to a safe house. My parents were put under protection of an auror. They think I am one of the people that would be attacked since I was kidnapped by Domenos. I am here at 4 Grimmauld Place in London. Dumbledore has a secret society formed here called the Order of the Phoenix. Ron and his family are here too. His parents are in the Order. I haven't heard from Harry. I hope he is okay too. If you can make it here, it would be great to see you. I hope to hear from you soon.

-Love Hermione

Alex set the letter on the counter. Domenos had broken some of Voldemort's followers out of jail, Harry hadn't been contacted, and Dumbledore had formed a secret society. He really needed to subscribe to the wizard newspaper to keep up with things.

Alex knew that he needed to go to London and see this Order of the Phoenix. He also needed to find Harry.

Alex super sped upstairs and began loading his trunk and backpack. He would go to London after Jonathan and Martha returned.

He loaded up his books, robes, wand, and other items. He also loaded the tablet. He knew that he had to keep it with him. If the message of Kal-El being alive had a figurative meaning to it, Alex needed to find out what it was.

He looked out the window to see Jonathan and Martha pull into the driveway in the truck.

Harry stepped down the slope into the river. As he looked out through the river, he saw the trash bag sitting out in the middle. He set Hedwig on the edge of the water.

"I'll be back in a minute," he told her.

Harry began wading through the water toward the trash bag. He arrived and checked inside to see that everything was there. Harry couldn't use anything in this bag at the moment. Wizard law stated that no student could use magic outside of Hogwarts until they were seventeen. In the muggle world, a person was considered an adult at eighteen, but in the wizard world, it was seventeen.

Harry began to drag the trash bag towards the shore when he slipped on a rock and fell face first into the water. He stood up and saw that nothing had been lost from the bag. Harry was soaking wet now. He looked up to see three people on the shore. One of them was a familiar face.

It was Remus Lupin and two other men.


End file.
